
Glass. 
Book. 



Gaius Qraccfjus; 

j4 Tragedy J 

By 

ODIN GREGORY 

With 

An Introduction 

By 

Theodore Dreiser 



IJ the story of this great heart, and its martyrdom, 
seems strangely familiar, bear in mind that the phi- 
losophy the Nazarene taught was new to the Jews only 



BONI AND LIVERIGHT 

Publishers New York 






CopjTight, 1920, by 

BONI AND LIVERIGHT, INC. 

Copyright also in Great Britain and Ireland and in all countries sub- 
scribing to the Bern Convention, including the Scandinavian 
Countries. All rights reserved. Rights of translation 
into foreign languages reserved, including 
the Scandinavian. 






'T'HIS play in its printed form is designed for the reading public 
only. All dramatic rights in it are fully protected by copyright, 
in the United States and Great Britain, and no public or private 
performance — professional or amateur — may be given without the 
written permission of the author and the payment of royalty. As the 
courts have also ruled that the public reading of a play for pay or 
where tickets are sold constitutes a performance, no such reading 
may be given except under the conditions above stated. Anyone 
disregarding the author's rights renders himself liable to prosecution. 
Communications should be sent to the author, care of the publishers. 



Introduction 




OR three centuries, the Enghsh metric 
drama has remained sterile of any 
notable production. It may well be 
that Shakespere set a standard too 
high for any other mortal to attain, 
even in the ages to come. Certain it 
is that the efforts of Massinger, of 
Marlowe, of Ben Jonson, of Beaumont, of Fletcher, 
of Middleton, and of all the others of that brilliant 
galaxy of the Elizabethan period, carried no appeal 
to the generations that followed. The very titles of 
their great plays, such as " Tamburlaine," " The Jew 
of Malta," " Duke of Milan," " The Fatal Dowry," 
" The Maid of the Inn," " The Fall of Sejanus," 
*' Volpone," sound strange in modern ears. 

In France, the works of Racine, of MoHere, of 
Corneille and of Voltaire continue a splendid history, 
to which Hugo and Rostand added no mean measure 
of lustre. The Italian revival may be continued down 
to the Eighteenth Century, when it produced the simple 
intensity of Alfieri. In the literature of Germany, 
Schiller, Goethe and Hauptmann made the Eighteenth 
and Nineteenth Centuries glorious. 

But in the English language, the actor-manager- 
playwright from Stratford stands by himself — a very 
Colossus of the ages. He marks the beginning, and, 
thus far, the end, of the influence of the Renaissance 
on our poetic drama. The great Greek poets laid the 
foundation of the harmonic expression of thought and 
action. And there is, in our language, no surviving 



Page 4 CAIUS GRACCHUS Introduction 

personality whose plays affirmatively force our atten- 
tion, between their time, and the day of Shakespere — 
nor since. It may be that the day of the exact and ex- 
alted poetic drama, whatever its inherent literary or 
social value, has gone. Life may have adjusted its ends 
permanently to a different arrangement or beat of 
thought. Admitting, for argument's sake, that the Rab- 
elaisian productions of Massinger, Marlowe and Ben 
Jonson failed to hold the popular attention for the same 
reason that Shakespere's " Pericles," and the doubtful 
" Titus Andronicus " failed to hold it, still the ultimate 
fact remains that a few plays of Shakespere's constitute 
practically the whole of our heritage of poetic drama 
or important tragedy as known and given public atten- 
tion today. 

The critics, the self -avowed " experts," the ex- 
pounders, and the textwriters, all tell us that the 
Elizabethan cult is very dead. They join in assuring 
the would-be venturer into the field of metric drama 
that he is chasing the proverbial undomesticated goose; 
that every one who has tried his hand at the game has 
had nothing but his frenzy for his effort. 

Certain facts may, perhaps, seem to justify those 
solemn warnings. The ambitious essays into dramatic 
poetry of yesterday — where are they? True — Bulwer 
Lytton's " Richeheu " is still occasionally played, by 
our persistent tragedians. Stephen Phillips did his best 
in " Herod; " his style was even hailed by some of our 
professional wiseacres as being a wonderful new prod- 
uct. But the public displayed no enthusiasm: not even 
mild interest. So, Phillips' wan work died. Had he 
written less for the critics, and more for the people, 
he might have achieved real results. 

In my view, the reason why great dramatic poems 
have failed to gain attention since the Seventeenth 
Century, is that no one writing our language metri- 
cally has had anything to say that the Enghsh-speak- 
ing people cared to hear, or, having anything to say, 
has had the courage, the talent or the genius to say 
it in such fashion as to compel public attention. This 



Introduction CAIUS GRACCHUS Page 5 

regrettable condition also applies, in great measure, to 
the prose drama. Eliminate Sheridan's works, and what 
English play is there that has survived the test of even 
a century? 

But why does this condition maintain? 

The answer suggests itself. 

Puritanism — the inspiration of the period of Oliver 
Cromwell — dedicated itself to the murder of the soul 
of English poetry, by the unsparing use of cant. The 
effect of this drab poison continued through the Res- 
toration. It crossed the Atlantic with the Pilgrims, 
and it is with us today. It was inevitable that there- 
after English genius, when it did manifest itself, should 
do so in the ode rather than in the sonnet. We had 
Milton in the middle of the Seventeenth Century. 
And then — we had Bunyan. Cant, regnant and tri- 
umphant, held aloft the whining church hymn as the 
greatest thing in poesy; and a people blinded by its 
own dust-throwing, celebrated the extinction of free 
literature as a great moral victory. 

It is the fashion of the day for the literary censors 
to decry the decadence of English letters. They bewail 
the utter banality of " best sellers," and sometimes 
almost shed tears because no one is essaying real 
" literature." All of which is quite touching. But woe 
to the unfortunate who takes any of this seriously, 
and addresses himself to letters for art's sake. Moved 
by that splenetic resentment on which both Pope and 
Byron had occasion to comment, they are immediately 
upon him with such outpourings of venom as small 
minds have always found useful to conceal their own 
vapidness — or prostitution. 

Into this situation, a new author intrudes, with his 
offering of a tragedy, in the classic style. The venture 
calls for courage. 

We open the book with, say, tolerance. And what do 
we find in its pages ? 

A dramatic work that breathes questions, thoughts, 
perplexities, struggles that are as old as humanity. The 
writer, we soon discover, is no maudlin sentimentalist. 



Page 6 CAIUS GRACCHUS Introduction 

Essaying the Roman world, and an interpretation of 
the humanist mood, he sees pleb and patrician, cour- 
tesan and lady, slave and lord, in the true relation of 
each to the other. 

And he paints them as he sees them. He refuses to 
believe that the province of Uterature, or of poetry, is to 
deal only with piffle. He refuses to accept the dictum of 
the " authorities " that the mission of modern hterature 
is to serve as a sort of subhmated " movie." His char- 
acters are no mere lay figures, induced to action by the 
more or less artful, but always obvious, pulUng of 
strings. Each of his personages lives, breathes and 
moves as do the men and women of our own time. 
It is refreshing to note that the play is not propaganda. 
The temptation to subvert the Muse to such purposes 
is very strong. Even the " Divina Commedia," we 
are told, was written in support of a political faction, 
and the " Furies " of yEschylus, to which I shall refer 
later on, was worked out to bolster up the Areopagus. 

But in the present case, the author simply shows 
us the human mass — high, low and middling — as it is, 
and invites us to take our choice. He is the painter, 
not the advocate. 

In saying the foregoing, I do not wish to be taken 
as missing the point that throughout the volume there 
runs a note of passionate insistence on the sanctity of 
Law, and on the inevitableness of its ultimate triumph : 
it is too patent to require expatiation. But this basic 
strain is one of philosophic conviction — not of argument. 

In reading the work, we soon become conscious 
that the author writes of the Roman Rome of the 
period covered by the play. It is not an English Rome, 
or an American Rome. Almost every page, bears evi- 
dence of study, of classic accuracy. We are not offended 
by anachronisms. Even the master of Avon sometimes 
failed in this particular. When Venus pleads with Adonis, 
it is a buxom Englishwoman of the middle class who is 
entreating an Eton youth: and the scene is that of 
an English middle-counties countryside. When Brutus 
confers with the conspirators, when Cleopatra exchanges 



Introduction CAIUS GRACCHUS Page 7 

compliments with Antony, we are uncomfortably 
conscious of an all-English atmosphere. True, the 
Shakesperian genius rose superior to these minutiae. 
But that is no reason why we should not welcome one 
who writes of Rome in the second century before 
Christ as it then was, and as its thoughts, its manners 
and its customs then were. 

The present volume shows, in its every hne, that 
it is the work of a man who has something to say, 
and who says it well. When he touches on economics, 
he speaks with authority. Having chosen the iambic 
pentameter as his medium, the author convinces us that 
he is master of the art of being stately, without being 
stilted. Not for an instant do his characters step out of 
the picture. There is neither overdrawing, nor under- 
drawing. We come to understand every individual 
almost immediately after his, or her, introduction. 
Throughout, Odin Gregory shows an exquisite and pre- 
cise sense of values. By this I mean values of words and 
style, as well as values of situation and action. When 
one of his characters is drawn into what may be called 
" rhetoric," the action itself has been such as to make 
rhetoric acceptable. In the fifth act, the minghng of the 
real with the unreal, of the supernatural and the phan- 
tastic with the commonplace, is so delicately handled, 
that the eerie is no longer so. The progress of Gracchus 
to the state of exaltation in despondency that must 
precede the peremptory order to the soldier to admin- 
ister the death-blow, constitutes a study in psychology 
that has not been surpassed in any of the imaginative 
writing with which I am famihar. 

Of the structural quality of the work, it may be said 
that the author has brought the spirit of the Eliza- 
bethan verse to the Twentieth Century. Odin Gregory 
is a classicist. His inspiration is plainly that of Spenser, 
Shakespere, Jonson and Dryden, not uninfluenced by 
the refinement of Pope. But his language is that of 
the present day, skilfully applied to the uses of the 
second person singular, and to the atmosphere required 
in an epic. The simplicity of the style is that of the 



Pages CAIUS GRACCHUS Introduction 

Greek masters. There is a gentle transition from mere 
melody to what I might call orchestral effect, as the 
action requires it, and the reader is carried along in 
pleasurable sympathy. After the reader's attention has 
become engaged by the first few pages, it can not 
slacken. The story itself lives. The action intensifies. The 
blank verse deters us not at all. It merely makes the 
reading more succulent. And, curiously enough, we 
hunt for the long speeches, instead of skipping them. 

I shall not attempt any analysis of the prosody of 
this work. There are various college professors who 
claim to have reduced the theory and practice of 
poetry -writing to a series of formulae. Perhaps this 
can be done, but I can not see it. But I do see this : 
that in the present instance, the poet has written verse 
that any one can read without hiring an interpreter. 
It is the kind of verse that delights the eye, and is 
pleasant to the ear. 

The conception of the Furies, in Act V, must inevi- 
tably elicit comparison with the Eumenides of ^Eschylus. 
I think that Odin Gregory has succeeded in visualizing 
for us these daughters of the Night as no one has done 
before. In ^schylus, the personalities of the Three 
Furies are lost in the chorus of the whole. Here, we 
have the three spirits individualized, each functioning 
in her respective activities with a convincing vividness. 

In its present shape, the tragedy is, of course, too 
long for stage presentation. But it is so written that 
its preparation for the theater is merely a matter of 
mechanical excision. I lay no claim to the gift of 
prophesy, but I venture the opinion that if properly 
presented, it will draw English-speaking audiences as 
no serious play of recent years has drawn them. 

Odin Gregory has never before courted publicity 
for his verse. He says he has been writing for his own 
joy. I have had the privilege of reading some of his 
unpublished material. It ranges from madrigals to medi- 
tations, from sonnets to serenades. Those who love 
graceful word-painting may look forward to exquisite 
pleasure when those writings are released to the printer. 



Introduction CAIUS GRACCHUS Page 9 

My final word is that an important, and a virile figure 
has appeared in English letters. His work is Art, because 
it is Truth. It is one of the really notable contribu- 
tions to the English literature of the last three cen- 
turies. With this first Tragedy as an earnest, we may 
look forward to great things from him in the future, if 
the inspiration of his pen does not fail. But if he never 
writes another line, he should live in Enghsh poetry by 
virtue of the intrinsic value of his " Caius Gracchus." 

THEODORE DREISER. 

Los Angeles, Calif. 



Preface 




aBERIUS GRACCHUS and Caius 
Gracchus were the sons of Tiberius 
Sempronius Gracchus, twice Consul 
of Rome. Their mother, CorneHa, was 
the daughter of the great Scipio, con- 
queror of Carthage. The elder brother 
devoted himself to the interests of the 
common people — the plebs — and when about to be 
elected Tribune for a second term, was foully murdered 
by a mob of Senators — patricians. 

The younger brother, Caius, served with honor 
in various foreign missions. He early commended him- 
self to the love of the people by his actions as quaestor 
in Sardinia. His honesty, his idealism, and his energetic 
work in behalf of the commons, aroused the hostility 
of the men of the " upper class," who did everything 
in their power to prove him dishonest, corrupt, etc. 
He was twice elected Tribune, and distinguished himself 
by building magnificent roads, and other necessary 
public works, throughout Roman Italy. He fathered 
legislation that called for the return to the State, by 
the very wealthy, of common lands, which the latter 
had illegally appropriated, and for its distribution to 
the landless; for the regulation of the price of corn; 
for the raising of the minimum military age to seven- 
teen; for the furnishing of clothing to soldiers at public 
expense; for the enlargement of the jury list, so as to 
include therein certain of the middle class citizens, 
and for the founding of foreign colonies. All these 
activities infuriated the patricians, as tending to impair 



Page 12 CAIUS GRACCHUS Preface 

their powers, their special privileges, and their incomes. 

To lessen the intense affection of the common people 
for Caius, his enemies arranged with one Drusus to 
play the role of pretended champion of the poor. Drusus 
was a man of high lineage. He had himself elected a 
Tribune, and undermined Gracchus by sponsoring the 
most fantastic laws in favor of the populace, always 
assuring the latter that he was doing this at the behest 
of the Senate. 

The time having come for Gracchus to seek election 
for a third term as Tribune, a combination was formed 
against him, and, through the treachery of Drusus, 
he was fraudulently declared defeated. This deprived 
him of the cloak of sacrosanctity, that protected Trib- 
unes while in office. 

As soon as they rid themselves of Gracchus as a 
Tribune, the patricians commenced to cancel the 
laws he had caused to be enacted. Issue was finally 
joined between the Gracchan partisans and their oppo- 
nents on two measures. One had to do with the founding 
of a Roman colony on the site of what had once been 
Carthage; the other concerned the admission to the 
voting privilege of the Italian allies of Rome. Gracchus 
had sponsored both these propositions. 

The patricians had recourse to legalistic trickery. 
They cleared Rome of many Italians who were entitled 
to vote — and who were adherents of Gracchus — by 
arbitrarily ordering out of the city all citizens thereof 
who had not been horn within its boundaries. Then 
they called a public assembly to pass on the proposal 
to cancel the " Rubrian Law," which had authorized 
the location of a new city on the Carthaginian site, 
under the name " Junonia." The pious patricians 
claimed that the augurs had declared the venture 
inauspicious. The fact was, that the founding of new 
colonies tended to create independent husbandmen, 
and to decrease the numbers of those destitute citizens 
on whose grossly underpaid labor, and tribute of ex- 
tortionate prices for food, the ruling class depended 
for its enormous gains. 



Preface CAIUS GRACCHUS Page 13 

Despite the fact that Gracchus was now a private 
citizen, it was not at all certain that the patricians 
would prevail. The killing, in the Forum, of Antyllius, 
a lictor, while he was carrying the entrails of the sacri- 
fice, gave the patricians and Senators a pretext for 
raising the cry of " sacrilege." They did so, and called 
on all good Romans to rally around the government, 
for the safety of the Republic, and in protection of 
Religion. 

They had already excited the stodgy populace to a 
condition of apprehensive receptivity, by virtuously 
advertising danger to the country from the " aliens. " 
An outcry against " foreign devils " was as efficacious 
in arousing the fury of the stupid low and middle class 
Romans in B. C. 121, as it was many centuries later in 
stirring the hatred of the brutishly dull coolies of China, 
— and of their intellectual mates elsewhere. The patri- 
cians and the politicians had skilfully played on the 
passions of the brainless by flinging the charges of 
treason and sedition against all those who sought to put 
an end to their private and public plundering. The 
fatuous, degenerate descendants of a once sturdy yeo- 
man race, who had become capable of only a limited 
set of emotions, responded as was expected of them. 
They proudly, and joyously, and clamourously com- 
mitted political and social suicide. They deserted 
Gracchus. The Republic was declared in danger. 
" Patriotic " citizens took control. Full power was 
vested in the Consul — Opimius — and the clever ruling 
class had its way with Gracchus, and with all those 
who had championed the cause of the common people. 
The soldiery, of course, obeyed orders, and butchered 
as directed. 

In later years, the Romans came to realize, in part, 
the vileness of which they had been guilty. They hon- 
ored the martyred brothers with statues, and with what 
amounted to deification. Their mother lived on for 
many years, honored by the people as the " Mother of 
the Gracchi." 




Page 14 CAIUS GRACCHUS Preface 

^HE admirable character of Caius Gracchus 
may be summarized by saying that his was 
essentially a constructive mind. He was 
not one of those whose affection for a 
country is measured by what they can get out of it 
for themselves. He truly loved Rome, and gave to 
it the best there was in him, asking nothing in return 
but opportunity for greater service. He was not influ- 
enced by the theories of violence that so often carry 
away those whose sober sense of social values is over- 
come by waves of passionate rebellion against imme- 
diate wrong suffered, and oppression endured. He 
sturdily maintained that in a State in which the 
citizens can actually control the making of laws by 
exercising their rights of suffrage, effective social 
progress should be sought through legal media, and 
by the enforcement of Law against all alike. 

Gracchus clearly saw the danger of class warfare, 
and sought to save his country from its baneful effects, 
by curbing the powers and prerogatives of the patric- 
ians, while enlarging the rights of the middle class, 
and of the plebeians. It may be taken for granted 
that he knew, as all thinking men have known, that 
the government of any people, in the last analysis, 
reflects the morals of the people themselves, and that 
the cure for immoral government lies not in pulling 
down all governments, but in raising the intellectual 
standards, the ideals, and the requirements of those 
who are governed. He was no stranger to the eternal 
truth that the remedy for social injustice lies not in 
destruction, but in limitation, and that those who 
would limit others must first be willing themselves 
to be limited. 

To make possible the realization of his ideals by 
legislation, Caius Gracchus strove to extend the voting 
right to all those who acknowledged the sovereignty of 
Rome. His opponents, the patricians, were the anar- 
chists of the period. Theirs was the most dangerous 
species of anarchy: that bred of the arrogance of 
conscious power. They had no respect for the lives. 



Preface CAIUS GRACCHUS Page 15 

the rights, or the properties of any other than them- 
selves. Under cover of the shibboleth " law and order," 
they had recourse to the most atrocious crimes to attain 
their ends, and to maintain their mastery. Constantly 
inveighing against the horrors of mob rule, they incited 
or practised it — when they found it to their advantage 
to do so. According to them, mob violence, when 
resorted to by them, or in their interest, was sanctified 
and proper, while like force invoked by the commons, 
on their own behalf, was unholy and improper. What 
they could not obtain by craft, or by force, they gained 
by the shameless misuse of the judicial process, as well 
as of all the other instrumentahties of government. 
They drove Gracchus to his death, to prevent the 
extension of the voting right to the Italian peoples. 
To him who examines Rome's internal history dis- 
passionately, it soon becomes evident that the elim- 
ination of the two brothers — ^Tiberius and Caius — 
by the smug, viciously lawless ruhng element of the 
Roman population, marked the beginning of the 
moral and national degeneration of Rome that grew 
apace as Rome expanded imperially, and that finally 
led to the complete extinction of the Romans as a nation 
and as a people. 

June, 1920. Odin Gregory. 



Dramatis Personae 



Caius Gracchus 

M. FuLvius Flaccus, a partisan of Gracchus 

Livius Drusus, a Tribune 

Caius Fannius, Consul, B. C. 122 

RuTiLius, son of Caius Fannius 

Lucius Opimius, Consul, B. C. 121 

QuiNTus Antyllius, spy in employ of Fannius 

Calpio, slave to Fannius 

Philocrates, guard to Gracchus 

PoRTiNUs, a freedman, in house of Gracchus 

Sbptimuleius, a patrician 

PONTIFEX MaXIMUS 

A Plebeian 

A Citizen 

A Soldier 

Spirit of Tiberius Gracchus 

LiciNiA, wife of Gracchus 

Lydia, a courtesan 

Helia, daughter of Antyllius 

Old Woman 

TisiPHONE, the blood-avenger 

Megaera, the denier 

Alecta, the unceasing 

Priests, Magistrates, Senators, Lictors, Soldiers, 

Citizens, Bacchantes, etc. 



ACT I. 
Atrium, house of Caius Gracchus, near the Forum. 

ACT II. 
Palace of Caius Famiius, on the Palatme Hill. 

ACT III. 
The Forum. 

ACT IV. 

Triclinium in Palace of Caius Fannius. 

ACTV. 
Scene 1 — Grove of the Furies. 
Scene 2 — ^Road to Rome. 



ACT I. 

Atrium, House of Caius Gracchus 

[At curtain, shout from without : "Hail, 
Caius Gracchus! "] 

Phil: 

There sounds the heart of Rome! 
Antyll.: 

Tah! Heart of chaff! 
If they had voted as they shout — 
Phil: 

Small use to vote, 
When Money does the counting. 
Antyll: 

True : gold is gold — 
Phil: 

Aye, and the mob 's a fool. If I — 
Antyll: 

If thou— 
Phil: 

If I had tongue, or art, to move that mass, 
I 'd cry: *' Away, to the accursed hill. 
And wring out from Capitoline by brawn 
What hath been filched from you by brain! " 
Antyll: 

Wouldst have — 
Phil: 

The stolen pubhc lands, fair price for food. 

Our chosen Tribune, all our rights as men — 
Antyll: 

So speaks lord Fulvius. 
Phil: 

But Gracchus holds 

We move by law. 



PageIS CAIUS GRACCHUS Act I 

AntylL: 
Phil: 



And thou- 



Port.: 

AntylL: 

Port.: 

AntylL: 
PoH.: 
AntylL: 
PoH.: 



I serve our chief. 
[Enter Portinus] 

Anty Uius ! 

Portinus! 

I have brought 
A message from thy daughter. 

Nothing 's ill.? 

She cowers in gripping fear. 

Of what.'' 



A damned 
Patrician youth, who'th stationed slaves about, 
To wait her coming out. 
AntylL: 

His name.'* 
Port.: 

I begged it. 
She denied me the hateful name, saying 
He 's so exalted, she feared some vengeful 

stroke, 
Born of mine anger, might back-lash me with 

death. 
She urges cautious silence, and prays thee 

home 
This even. 
AntylL: 

And didst thou leave her thus: alone .^^ 
PoH.: 

I left two guards within, my friends, and gave 
Alarm among the neighbors. I had staid. 
But I was bound to hasten for our lord. 



ActI CAIUS GRACCHUS Page 19 

AntylL: 



PoH.: 



AntylL: 



Phil: 



AntylL: 
Phil.: 
AntylL: 
Phil.: 

AntylL: 
Phil.: 



AntylL: 



I thank thee for thy service. 

I was thanked 
By her request for service. I wait thy call. 
[Exit PoRTiNus to interior] 

My Heha! My girl! My little girl! 

So soon in danger! Curse of impotence! 

What can a mere plebeian soldier do.f* 

Patrician men! The plunderers who rule our 

land! 
How long will Romans bend the neck, and bear 
The burden of their insolence, their blows, 
Their robbery, their rape, their cunning — all 
The horror of their lawless use of law? 
Ah — if tomorrow we but win the day — 

What then? 

Then is thy daughter safe. 

How so? 

The law will rule alike for all in Rome, 
And every man will be its chosen ward. 

Our master hath some project? 

Nay, not he; 
'T is Fulvius' plan. If by tomorrow's vote 
'T is shown our master hath the people's trust. 
Lord Fulvius will call them to arise. 
And name our lord protector; they '11 enact 

decrees 
To limit private fortunes, and to force 
Quick restitution of the stolen lands. 

So Gracchus will be Consul? 



Page20 CAIUS GRACCHUS Act I 

Phil: 



AntylL: 



Phil: 

Antyll: 

Phil: 

Antyll: 

Phil: 



That, and more: 
For he '11 be clothed with power to give all laws 
Fangs, claws, and sinews. 

Pray it may be so! 
Then many Roman fathers of our class 
Will taste tranquillity, when they are certain 
They do not breed their daughters but to be 
The offal of the golden beds of lust. 

Hope for tomorrow. 

Hope? I hope, I hope. 

But hast no faith? 

I Ve seen our failures mount. 



No matter. We shall win. The gods are just. 
This youth — Portinus — loves thy Httle maid? 
Antyll: 

His ears are pierced. 
Phil: 

He 's free. 
Antyll: 

A freedman. Tah! 
Old Roman blood is not for erstwhile slaves. 

Voice of Sept.: [without] 

My life, mine arms, mine all, I gladly lend! 
I follow thee, dear Gracchus, to the end! 

Voice of Gracch.: [without] 

Septimuleius : I thank thee. Thou art a friend 
Of value. 

Voice of Sept.: [without] 

And what 's more, my friend, we '11 win! 
[Enter Septimuleius, from side] 



ActI CAIUS GRACCHUS Page 21 

Sept.: 



Phil: 



Sept.: 
Phil: 

AntylL: 



My litter, men. 

At once. 

[Motions to Antyllius, who exits] 
Forgive me, lord. 
For this one question: doth the council break? 

It breaks. Our chief comes out. 

I thank thee, lord. 

[Enter Antyllius] 

The litter, lord. 

[Exit Septimuleius] 

Now, there 's the breed of man 
I like. He 's noble, proud, erect; he hath 
A dignity that flatters our old blood. 

Phil: 

Our blood. ^ 

AntylL: 

He 's ancient Roman stock, as I. 
Phil: 

I see him but a harbinger. 
AntylL: 

Of what.? 
Phil: 

Of victory: although an old-time friend. 
To-day 's the first he 'th joined in council 

here. 
He hath a pointer's smell for what 's to come. 
AntylL: 

Our master 's winning .f* 
Phil: 

More ! the spoils thereof. 

[Several men, engaged in conversation, 
enter from side, and pass out toward 
ostium. Shouts without: " Hail Caius 
Gracchus! " " Down, Fannius! " ] 



Page22 CAIUS GRACCHUS Act I 

AntylL: 

How? Fannius? Most strange! What gust of 

happy wind 
Blows one so high to us? 
Phil: 

So high, thou say'st? 
Who is too high to seek to scrape the sill 
Of Caius Gracchus' door? 
AntylL: 

Have thee thy way; 
But it were well we showed him due respect. 

[Enter Fannius, Calpio] 
Hail, lord! Thy pleasure? 

Fann.: 

Soldier : I 'm in haste. 
The noble Gracchus: — is he within? 
AntylL: 

My lord— 
Our master comes this instant. Pray, abide — 
Fann.: 

No more! Go say that Fannius awaits 
In panting haste! 

AntylL: [starts toward vnng] 

At once — 

Phil.: [stops Antyllius] 

Stay! Those who seek 
Our master, tarry here. 
Fann.: 

I Ve said my will! 
Phil.: 

We serve but Gracchus here. 
Fann.: 

Thou insolent! 
Phil: 

We serve but Gracchus here. 
Fann.: 

Speed as art bid ! 



ActI CAIUS GRACCHUS Page 23 

Phil: 

We serve but Gracchus here! 

[Fannius and Calpio walk aside] 

Fann.: [aside, to Calpio, pointing to Philocrates] 

What of this man? 
Calp.: [aside, to Fannius] 

A dolt. We 've not his price. 

Fann.: [aside, to Calpio] 

Not gold.? 
Calp.: [aside, to Fannius] 

Not gold — 
Nor other bribes; both blandishments and coin. 
Alike, fail to make impress on his ear. 

Fann.: [aside, to Calpio] 
He 's Roman? 

Calp.: [aside, to Fannius] 

No : a tribesman. 

Fann.: [aside, to Calpio] 

Savage men 
Are often troubled by such streaks of faith. 

[Points to Antyllius] 
The other? 

Calp.: [aside, to Fannius] 

Serves us well since Gracchus lost 
The Tribunate. He hath a merchant's soul. 

Fann.: [to Philocrates] 

I '11 wait no more! 

Calp.: [points to Antyllius] 

Good soldier, thou — 
AntylL: 

I hear, 
And I would gladly serve — 



Page24 CAIUS GRACCHUS Act I 

Phil: 

Here I command: 
Here those who seek my master rest, and wait. 
Fann.: 

I '11 have thee whipped ! I '11 — 

[Enter Gracchus, Fulvius, followed 

by PORTINUS] 

Fulv.: 

Ho! Here 's noise of war! 
Thrice welcome sound! What? Fannius, in 
arms? 
Fann.: 

Hail, Gracchus ! Fulvius — I greet thee ! 
Fulv.: 

Hail! 
Thy wrath—? 
Fann.: 

'T is naught. 

Fulv.: [aside, to Gracchus] 

Methinks our guest's red ire 
Grows pale too fast. 

Gracch.: [to Fannius] 

I had not thought thy feet 
Would find my threshold grateful to their beat; 
Nor do I know what welcome to bestow, 
Or if as friend, or if as foe — 
Fann.: 

My words 
Are for thy private mind; wherefore, I pray 
That but four ears attend on our two tongues. 

Gracch.: [to guards] 

Ye three, withdraw, and voice mine urgent 

prayer 
To those without for patience for a little while. 
[Exeunt Philocrates, Antyllius, 

PORTINUS] 

And now — 



Act I 



CAIUS GRACCHUS 



Page 25 



Fann.: [points to Fulvius] 

One still remains — 
Fulv.: 

And do I vex. 
Old comrade of a fairer morn? Methinks, 
I knew a time when every man who stood 
At Gracchus' elbow was the cherished love 
Of Fannius, the beggar for men's votes. 
But now, I vex — 

Gracch.: [to Fulvius] 

Peace! 
[to Fannius] 

Fannius: as once, 
When thou hadst use of my poor art, didst pour 
Thy cares, and fears, and hopes, into mine ear, 
What time I waved away the Consul's rods* 
To place them in thine eager hands; as then, 
So now, my Fulvius holds all my faith; 
For, see, — he changeth not. 



Fulv.: 
Fann.. 



Mark! Changeth not! 

Thy tone implies a grievance: thy words — 

a blame. 
Both are unjust. My presence here, this day, 
Is witness to that latent love which, stirring. 
Impels me — hard abused though I have been 
By thine ungoverned tongue, — ** to seek, in 

grace. 



* On the day of the general election, it was the expectation of all present that Caius 
Gracchus would ask for the office of Consul, and it was conceded that be could have 
the office if he wished it. Instead, he conducted Caius Fannius into the Campus 
Martins, and asked his friends to cast their votes for the latter for the higher office, 
Gracchus satisfying himself with re-election to the office of Tribune. Gracchus' 
support, of course, elected Fannius, who almost immediately thereafter showed him- 
self in his true colors, as a supporter of the patricians, and an enemy of Gracchus. 

** Gracchus having proposed certain of his laws, the population came from every 
part of Italy to vote for them. The patricians induced the Consul. Fannius, to 
command all persons who were not Romans by birth, even though they were citizens 
having the right to vote, to leave the City forthwith. Gracchus thereupon published 
articles of impeachment against Fannius, but the patricians prevailed, as they had 
the military power, and Gracchus could not bring himself to shed Roman blood. 



Page26 CAIUS GRACCHUS Act I 

Thy safety, Gracchus, — now a private man, — 
Who, though no more made safe by vesti- 

ture,* 
Yet, with thy factious speech, still urgest to 

war 
The foohsh, restless rabble at thy heel-straps; 
The while, observant of thy lawless noise. 
Up there, in council, in the Senate House, 
Rome's greatest plan the scourging strokes, 

by which 
Shalt expiate all thine audacious deeds. 



Fulv.: 



Fann.: 



Rome's greatest, say'st thou? Faugh! I almost 

retch ! 
Rome's greatest? Nay, Rome's vilest is more 

fitting! 
Who are those " greatest," who, within the 

walls 
Of that old pesthouse, — hard-eyed, smug, and 

sleek, — 
Sit scheming on the punishment of him 
Who dares espouse the cause of the oppressed? 

Those are the old ones, sacrilegious man; 
Those are the wise ones, those of ancient stock; 
Those are ordained divinely, who, in line 
That hath stretched on, unbroken, since the 

days 
When Romulus gave Rome her name and law. 
Have toiled to make her mistress of the world. 
Those are our greatest! 

So runs thy merry song. 
Now that the crooked** chair adorns thy hall. 
But I am mindful of those scarce-fled hours. 



* Gracchus' term of oflBce as Tribune expired December 10, B. C, 122. The attack 
on him and his laws commenced immediately thereafter. 

** The chair of the magistrates — the Curula — was distinguished by its crooked, or 
turned, legs. 



Fulv.: 



ActI CAIUS GRACCHUS Page 27 

When, in thy fear lest, of their hate, thou lose 

That fiercely craved-for bait of all thy dream- 
ing, 

Most loud wert thou of those who belched 
high streams 

Of raging detestation of those men! 



Gracch.: 



Fann.: 



Gracch.: 

Fulv.: 
Fann.: 

Fulv.: 



Speak not of yesterday, for 't is as gone 
As y ester hundred years. What man hath said 
Is nowise earnest of his speech to come .... 
But 't is enough. Perhaps our old friend 

hastens 
To bear us tidings of a better mind; 
Speak, Fannius! Thy wish? 

Dost question, man. 
As if hadst aught to give, that I come seeking. 
I came here, Caius Gracchus, from regard 
Of other days, and from a wish to spare 
Thy youthful years the ending that was 

wrought 
To him who went before thee, in the pitted 

path 
Thou now pursuest wildly. Heed! Heed well 

and heed ! 
Lest Caius join Tiberius in a death 
Dealt suddenly, when Power hints the deed. 

Dost dare! Here, 'neath this roof, dost dare 

to bandy 
My brother's name? 

O infamous! 

Nay, nay: 
I conjured it in deep concern for thee. 



Thou nimble, pliant, lying tongue! 
Fann . ; [threateningly] 

Take heed! 



Page28 CAIUS GRACCHUS Act I 

Gracch.: 



Fulv.: 
Fann.: 
Gracch.: 
Fann.: 



Fulv.: 
Gracch.: 

Phil: 
Gracch.: 



Let 's to the nub. 

The sword were best. 

Perhaps — 

What wouldst thou urge? 

This very day yield! Yield! 
Go out to that unpleasing mob, and cry: 
" Away! Disperse! Ye common-bom, disperse! 
Rome's masters are the men of substance, who 
Have held their sway these many centuries. 
Patricians, only, are divinely gifted 
To shape Rome's various laws! So get you 

hence. 
Or to your homes, or to your several tasks. 
And on the morrow, at th' appointed hour. 
When lord Opimius calls out the rolls. 
Do as he bids you, for his mandate comes 
Stamped with patrician shrewdness, and is 

wisely good! " 
Do thus, and thou shalt live; but if, instead. 
Still boldest fast to thy rebellious course. 
Then will the rightful masters strike. I have 
Betrayed a confidence to give thee warning. 
What say'st thou? 

Let me speak 

No, not at all. 
This matter is my body's, and my tongue's. 

[Enter PhilocratesI 
What now? 

Forgive my trespass : — one awaits 
Beyond the garden gate, who champs — 

His name? 



ActI CAIUS GRACCHUS Page 29 

Phil: 

I '11 whisper — 
Gracch,: 

Say it loud. 
Phil: 

It is, my lord. 
The Tribune Drusus. 
Fulv.: 

Drusus ! 
Gracch.: 

He! 
Fann.: [aside] 

Tis time. 
Phil: 

No less, who, heels a-wing, asserts he hath 
A matter of importance for thine ear. 



Fulv.: 
Gracch.: 



Be absent to him, Caius! There 's no good 
Within that foxhke head for thee, or thine. 

Thy counsel 's taken of thy fears, dear friend. 
Nor pleasure, nor mine ease, incline in me 
To hold or commerce, or debate, with that 
Mean jackal of the Senate. Yet our place 
Compels an open ear to all who speak. 
A stinking breath may wing a precious thought. 
And from the basest metals shrines are 

wrought. 
Bring Drusus hither! 

[Exit Philocrates] 

Fannius : thou stay on. 
And make one of what grows a tribe-meet here. 

[Enter, from side, Drusus, Philoc- 
rates, ANTYIiLroS, PORTINUS. PhILOC- 

RATES motions Portinus to ostium, to 
which Portinus exits. Thereafter, 
Portinus is seen from time to time, 
passing to and fro as outer guard] 



PageSO CAIUS GRACCHUS Act I 

Gracch.: 



Hail Drusus 



Drusus: 

Fann.: 

Fulv.: 
Drus.: 
Fulv.: 
Gracch.: 



Caius Gracchus : hail! And thou, 
Good Fannius! Most strangely met! 

But not 

Inopportunely. 

Drusus sees me not. 
I scarcely knew thee, for thy midnight scowl. 
My brow betrays the humor of my heart. 



Speak, Drusus ! What 's the whip that drives 

thee thus 
To ravish, stealthily, my postern door? 

Drus.: 

Fain had I hoped to find thee here alone. 
Where of my kindness I might make thee rich. 

Gracch.: 

Thou make me rich? 

Fulv.: 

Ye patient gods ! 

Fann.: [to Fulvius] 

Have done! 

Drus.: 

Know, Gracchus, I 'm thy friend. 

Fulv.: 

O evil news! 

Gracch.: 

Speak freely : name thy gift, and state its price. 

Drus.: 

I '11 speak thee fairly, Gracchus. At thy gates 
A numerous rabble frets the pave, and waits 
The index of thy pleasure at the poll 
That, on the morrow, will decide the fate 
Of those proposals which, in strict accord 
With all the best of Roma's wisest planning. 



ActI CAIUS GRACCHUS Page 31 

The Consul will submit to general vote. 

I know how dear the edict 's been to thee 

To raise old Carthage from its greying dust; 

Hast had thy dreams, I doubt not, and, we 're 
told, 

'T is dreamers' deeds do honor to gods' prompt- 
ings. 

Yet have our Fathers sought the augurs' aid. 

Who, guided by the Fates, advise the Senate 
thus: 

" Accursed the land on which old Carthage 
stood ; 

Cursed are all those who on that land would 
brood." 



Fulv.: 
Drus.: 


The augurs! Pah! The augurs! 

Yea, — ^just those. 
The augurs — 




[Pauses, laughs softly] 


Gracch.: 
Drus.: 


They — or of them — 

Tell thy tale. 



Still more offensive to all worthy men 
Hath been thy measure granting the full vote 
To all the Latins who accept our rule. 
There was a folly! Cogitate! The sacred vote 
To that mere buzzard's meat, which fights 
for us! 

Gracch.: 

They 're our allies ! 

Drus.: 

Our battling brutes. 

Opim.: 

Ha— ha! 
They '11 grant the vote to women next, or apes! 
Fulv.: 

This passeth patience! 



Page32 CAIUS GRACCHUS Act I 

Gracch.: [to Fulvius] 

Stay! 
\to Drusus] 

Come, Drusus — end! 



Drus.: 

Gracch. 
Drus.: 



But greatest of thy follies is thy scheme 
To take from noble families the lands 
They 've held for many generations back. 

The lands they stole! 



The lands they have. That 's all. 
And having them, time hath confirmed their 

right. 
Such is the law of wealth, however gotten. 
Gracch.: 

I '11 make that law a dust ! 
Drus.: 

Nor thou, nor any man, 
Nor now, nor any time, nor by whatever 
means. 
Fulv.: 

I have the means. 'T is here. 
[Points to his arm] 
Drus.: [to Fulvius] 

I know thy ways. 
[turns to Gracchus] 

So, on the morn, our Fathers urge the tribes 
To void thy laws, and Rubrius' , ahke. 
Wherefore I come here, Gracchus, to beseech 
That, moved by prudence — 



Fulv.: 
Drus.: 



Prudence! The false name 
Of cowardice ! 

— thou join with those wise men. 
Of solid substance and fixed resolution. 
Who stand behind the Senate's wholesome rule. 
Believe: I urge this, Gracchus, from my 
longing 



ActI CAIUS GRACCHUS Page 33 



Fulv.: 



Drus.: 



To serve thee truly, who myself have served 
The meanest-stationed of the vulgar herd. 

Shout high thy service, Drusus, by whose 

cheating hand 
The Tribune Gracchus lost his chosen charge. 
Shout high ! Shout high its worth ! 



Thou speakest ill! 
Gracch,: [to Fulvius] 

Let be! 
[to Drusus] 

Before my lips unloose the flood behind them, 
There's one who must be heard. Philocrates! 
Phil: 

My lord.? 
Gracch.: 

Tell thy mistress that I pray her company. 

[Philocrates salutes; exits] 

Fulv.: [to Gracchus] 

But, Caius, why debate .^^ 

[Gracchus and Fulvius walk aside] 

Fann.: [aside, to Drusus] 

I saw a kindling in thine eye, just now, 
That spoke as doth a beacon in the night. 
What stirs? 

Drus.: [aside, to Fannius] 

A thought: the seedHng of a tongue- 
twist, 
That flowers in the furrows of my brain. 

Fann.: [aside, to Drusus] 
Its name? 

Drus.: [aside, to Fannius] 

The augurs, — nay — ^the bud 's not 
yet full formed. 



Page34 CAIUS GRACCHUS Act I 

Calp.: [aside, to Antyllius] 
What news? 

Antyll.: [aside, to Calpio] 

There 's naught to tell. 

Calp.: [aside, to Antyllius] 

Thy lagging tongue 
Mismates thine eager palm. I say : — what news ? 

Antyll.: [aside, to Calpio] 

A proper soldier makes a faulty spy. 
Mine eyes, of their own wisdom, fail to know 
Or where, or how to look, or what to see. 

Calp.: [aside, to Antyllius] 

Arm they within here ? 

Antyll.: [aside, to Calpio] 

But as children arm. 
Who cushion every blade, lest it do hurt. 
Our lord is loath to shed the Roman blood. 

Calp.: [aside toAntyllius] 
What else.? 

Antyll.: [aside, to Calpio] 

There 's naught. 

Calp.: [aside, to Antyllius] 

Their schemes? 
Antyll.: [aside, to Calpio] 

Their schemes? 
Calp.: [aside, to Antyllius] 

I've said. 
Antyll.: [aside, to Calpio ] 
Their schemes — 

Calp.: [aMe, to Antyllius] 

Come, speak! 



ActI CAIUS GRACCHUS Page 35 

Antyll.: [aside, to Calpio] 

If they prevail, why, then, 
The Gracchus dictator; lay bounds to wealth; 
Deprive the rich of all their great estates. 

[Calpio walks away; Portinus shows 
himself for an instant from behind 
column of exit to ostium, evidences 
amazement, then disappears] 

Fulv.: [aside, to Gracchus] 

I 'd answer with the sword, not with soft 
speech ! 

[Enter Licinia, Philocrates] 

Licinia: 

My lord hath bid me? 



Gracch.: 

Lie: 
Drus.: 

Fann.: 

Gracch.: 



Dear Licinia, nay — 
I but entreated thy kind favor here. 

Good sirs: — I welcome you to this, our home. 

The roof -tree gods protect thee, Gracchus' 
wife. 

May Jove's companion be thy constant guard. 



Most gracious and beloved, at this hour. 
Thine husband has been called on, by these 

lords. 
To come to a decision most supreme. 
The words now spoken must foreclose me quite 
Of one way, or the other. One of these 
Spells truce with those whose might now stands 

assured. 
By every vested power, the state's dread law; 
It spells soft leisure, and the sweet enjoyment 
Of vivid life, and all the mortal things 
The body craves, and fancy finds its lovely 

lure. 



Page36 CAIUS GRACCHUS Act I 

But by the other way, one quickly comes 
To desolation's home, to lowering skies of lead, 
To bloody toil, to days and nights of dread. 
To scorning friends, to pain-racked limbs, and 

tears 
Of anguish for the dullness of the slaves 
On whose behalf these grinding griefs are 

borne. 



Lie. : 

Fulv.: 

Fann.: 
Gracch.. 



Drusr. 

Fulv.: 
Lie: 



My lord : it is ill day when woman's whim 
Inclines her husband's will. 

Most noble dame, — 
I hail thee wit, and sage ! 

But judge the choice? 

This is my proffered choice: — or yield, and 

now. 
Chafe knee on flooring at the Senate House. 
And whining " Grace! I erred! " by that one 

lie. 
Earn brotherhood with all the tawdry liars 

there, — 
Or, venturing a Gracchus, as of old. 
Take Truth for mistress, and, in her fair name. 
Speed to the doom ordained for every mortal 
Who dares proclaim this heavenly bride his 

own. 
'T were wrong of me to move, in such a choice, 
Until thy voice hath spoken for thy mind. 

Unfairly put I say ! It makes a prayer 
That reads its own response. 

Thus every prayer. 

Dear lord : — ^the night I came to thee as bride, 
I brought thee neither riches for thy needs. 
Nor station, nor such other vulgar things 



ActI CAIUS GRACCHUS Page 37 

As some men seek of women, or of life. 
I brought thee but the honor of my soul, 
A virgin body, and a sweet regard 
For that high spirit, which, from out the ruck 
Of casual manhood, marked thee what thou 

art. 
Thus didst thou take me, and from that first 

hour, 
When, 'pressed with fears, and doubt of a new 

life, 
I yielded to thy passion's fervid clasp, 
I 've lived thy wife, my husband, and, so 

living. 
Have wondered I had thought I lived 

before. 
I 've lived thy wife, my Caius, to enjoy 
Not only triumphs, and the loud acclaim 
That flowed to thee or from the high, or lowly; 
Not only feasts, not only songs, or crowns 
Of glory from a grateful people's hands: 
For these, a myriad concubines thou couldst 
Have found, with ease, dear husband, at thy 

call. 
Or lustful Cyprians, or else the frail 
And shallow ladies of our high-born world, 
Who deck their bodies daily for the feast, 
And spurn a share in aught but life's dehghts. 
Ah! no, — I 've hved to be thy wife indeed. 
Who sought to be as worthy of thy trust 
As she Rome honors as thy mother. Come, — 
Hast thou forgot that day, my husband, when 
Thou haltingly madest known to me thy wish 
That from the beauty of our long-time home. 
Which reared its stately frame on Palatine, 
We take our course to this drab precinct .^^ Ah, — 
Hast thou forgot the joy with which I flew, 
T' effect the change that served thy need — • 

or thought — 
So glad that now, at last, my day had come 
To put away a thing I dearly cherished. 



Page38 CAIUS GRACCHUS Act I 

That thus our Uves and loves might blend 

the more? 
Hast thou forgot that day when thou wert 

brought 
From slaughter's field, a quiver of raw flesh? 
I drove from out thy private chamber, then, 
Both nurse and slave, and, during nights and 

days. 
While holding vigil o'er thine anguished bed. 
Mixed, with my tears of sorrow at thy pain, 
Joy of th' unfortune that had given thee to me, 
Alone to love, and tend, and bring to life. 
Hast not forgotten, husband: — and the doubt 
Thou, now, in jest, pretendest of my wish, 
Hurts — pains — as if some thoughtless, cruel 

word 
Thou hadst to thy Licinia first addressed. 



Drus. 



Lie: 



Declared, divine Licinia, as befits 

A Roman lady, and a Roman wife. 

Yet is it well that lofty thought, at times. 

Consult with prudence, in a loved cause. 

Love is but life, and pallid death writes " end " 

Both to the warm embrace, and to the tender 

glance. 
Respect is joy, and he who walks abroad 
The butt of envy, and the served of men, 
May well content his very inmost soul 
To give some whit of this, or that belief. 
So as to live less freely, but to live secure. 

I know not of thine art of giving up 
To keep. The part can never be the whole ! 
Naught touches me but this : that in all things, 
My husband will so do, that when, at last. 
He seeks within mine arms, or on my breast, 
What of soft solace from myself may flow. 
Mine eyes will boldly look in his, and find 
Naught of the craven, naught of the coward 
there. 



ActI CAIUS GRACCHUS Page 39 

Fann.: 



Gracch.. 
Fulv.: 
Drus.: 
Lie: 



Gracch.: 

Fann.: 

Gracch.: 

Fann.: 

Gracch.: 

Drus.: 



Unhappy woman! Dost thou urge thy spouse 
To death, or nameless torture, worse than 
death? 

Dost dare to threaten? Here? 

So, so, with threats? 

Nay, he but argues — 

Urge, or threat, — 'tis one! 
I '11 speak you now. Here, by my mate, I stand ! 
Unclothe him, men, of all his dignities: 
Proclaim him felon, or impress the mark 
Of basest slavery into his flesh! 
Still will my loving hands weave crowns about 

his head. 
Still will my fervid hps kiss off the horrid shame ! 
The rack? The fire? But Caius will not shrink; 
And when, at last, ye render back again. 
Misshaped, or limbless, Caius Gracchus' frame, 
It will be far more straight, and whole, to me 
Than even golden-haired Apollo's own! 
I am the wife of Gracchus, lord: I 'mnot 
His light of love, or plaything of his ease! 

Licinia ! 

Foolish woman — 

Fannius ! 
My wife came hither but to guide my heart, 
And not to hold debate with such as thou. 

Dost dare! 

I dare, and say! 

Harsh speech! Harsh speech! 



Page 40 



CAIUS GRACCHUS 



Act I 



Gracch.. 



Lie: 
Fulv.: 

Port: 
Gracch.: 
Port.: 
Gracch.: 



Ye seek my answer in your various ways: 
Thou, Drusus, and thyself, my ponderous lord ! 
Here, — take it to the vampire crew that waits 
Within the vaulting hall of yonder fetid tomb ! 
I am my brother's brother, — his, whose voice, 
Spanning the mournful water in its strength. 
Calls plaintively each day to me, still quick. 
I am my mother's son, and, through her blood. 
The blood of Scipio is mine: — the " staff! " 
Staff of the lowly I, and though, by guile, 
The Senate, and those others ye name " great- 
est," 
Have, haply, robbed me of my lawful right 
Still to strive on for them as Tribune; yet, 
I am not hke the false Lucanean lake. 
Which, erstwhile sweet, now to the parched lip 
Yields but the torture of a bitter brine. 

There speaks my Caius! 

And my Caius, too. 
Dear lady, — I do homage to you both! 

[LiciNiA embraces Gracchus; enter 

PORTINUS] 



My lord — 



Speak on- 



A message. 



Give it me. 



[PoRTiNus hands roll to Gracchus, 
who walks aside with Fulvius and 
LiciNiA. PoRTiNus starts to go out; 
hesitates, stops in front of Antyixius, 
makes as if to speak; Antyllius makes 
gesture of impatience; Portinus starts 
to walk back toward Gracchus] 



ActI CAIUS GRACCHUS Page 41 

Gracch.: 

Aught else? Speak out. 

Port.: [hesitates] 

No, master; there 's naught else. 

[Exit PORTINUS] 

Fann.: [aside, to Drusus] 

What cursed spirit arms him to the fight? 

Drus.: [aside, to Fannius] 

He thinks in rhetoric, and feeds on dreams, 
And sacrifices fact for that which seems. 

Fann.: [aside, to Drusus] 
He 's stone. 

Drus.: [aside, to Fannius] 

We '11 try once more. 

Fann.: [aside, to Drusus] 

And then — 
Drus.: [aside, to Fannius] 

Tonight, 
I shall unfold what shapes within my mind. 

Fann.: [aside, to Drusus] 
The augurs? 

Drus.: [aside, to Fannius] 

Yea .... When Fulvius said 
"Pah!" 
I felt the rootling of a thought bore here, — 

[Points to his head] 

and sprout. 

Antyll.: [aside, to Philocrates] 

I have thy leave, at dusk? 



Page42 CAIUS GRACCHUS Act I 

Phil.: [aside, to Antyllius] 

Till sunrise. Return 
In time to guard our lord, when he fares forth. 

AntylL: [aside, to Philocrates] 

I thank thee. Gods ! Were I not poor, nor had 
A daughter — 

Phil.: [aside, to Antyllius] 
What— 

AntylL: [aside, to Philocrates] 

'T is naught, — the soul of naught; 
I was but dreaming. That was naught I said. 

Phil.: [aside, to Antyllius] 

Portinus peeves thee.^^ 

AntylL: [aside, to Philocrates] 

Aye— that 's it! That 's it! 

Gracch.: [aside, to Fulvius and Licinia] 
My mother writes. 

Fulv.: [aside, to Gracchus] 

All's well.? 

Gracch.: [aside, to Fulvius and Licinia] 

She thinks all 's ill. 
Lie: [aside, to Gracchus] 
What 's wrong .5^ 

Gracch.: [aside, to Fulvius and Licinia] 

She makes complaint that Scipio's 
Own daughter hears the Gracchus' nomen 

linked 
Too oft with news of loss, defeat, and, worse — 
Of ignoble retreat! .... 

[Puts away the roll] 



ActI CAIUS GRACCHUS Page 43 

Fulv.: [aside, to Gracchus] 

I tell thee, Caius : we war, or else — we perish ! 

Gracch.: [aside, to Fulvius] 
With reason — 

Fulv.: [aside, to Gracchus] 

No — with arms! 

Gracch.: [aside, to Fulvius] 

We 're Romans — all. 
Fulv.: [aside, to Gracchus] 

We 're hunted prey, who shed our natural 

tusks 
And seek indulgence of the bloody chasers, we! 
[Angry shouts are heard] 



Gracch.: 
Phil: 



Fann.: 



What 's that? 

My lord, it is thy clustered friends, 
Who chafe, impatient of thy tardy stay. 
They cry: — " Our Gracchus keeps us waiting 

much!" 
And fret their peevish mood with their own 

clamor. 

Drink in the essence of that threatening growl. 
And sense its import fully, fatuous boy! 
What is its source but all-pervading lack? 
Lack of the softer virtues, which the mind 
May gather only through the many years 
When, free from carping care, and crushing 

want, 
Man hath the leisure for the gentler prompt- 
ings; 
Lack of the courteous bearing, and the lack 
Of that concern of equals which is quickened 
By others' sorrow, and their pain, or need. 
These are thy clients — the sorry pack for 
which 



Page44 CAIUS GRACCHUS Act I 

Thou, Caius Gracchus, hast renounced thy 

right, 
By brain and blood, to greatness in our glorious 

state. 
To be, instead, the whilom chief of those 
Who, when art giving, croak to thee: — " Hail, 

gracious lord! " 
And when art spent, will shrilly shriek: "Thou 

dog!" 



Fulv.: 

Lie: 

Gracch.: 



Fulv.: 
Gracch.: 



Dog art thyself ! 

O wicked word! 

Nay, nay. 
Refrain from chiding; for there comes much 

truth 
From Fannius, conjoined with all the gall 
That flows from him. The Gracchi know too well 
The timber of the fickle crowd, and if 
'T were but for gain, or profit, or for high 
State station, that I strove with those poor 

folk— 
Whose shifting passions take the place of 

thought. 
And of whose loyalness, the greater portion 
Is but the clamor of an empty gut — 
Then might I think as Fannius, and as 
He doth, so, mayhap, even might I also do. 

That, heaven and earth and hell would all 
forbid ! 

But I — I writhe in anguish and in pain 
Because I 'm bid by that which dwells in me 
That neither have I chosen, nor can lose. 
A demon, say patricians — perhaps 'tis so; 
A god, my friends cry — be it as it will; 
For, good or evil — there's the urge which still, 
With inward lashing, drives me on and on. 



Act I 



CAIUS GRACCHUS 



Page 45 



Drus.: 



Gracch. 



Drus.: 



Gracch. 



Thou dost beguile thy brain with fervid words, 
And for a figment forfeitest thy hfe. 

Life? Life? How, then? Is that 

a private thing 
That 's given every man, at birth, to keep? 
Life is a loan, and not a gift. What use 
We 've made of it, we all must answer, when 
We 've to return the pledge to its first source; 
And there 's conviction in me that some power 
Makes jealous inquiry into its state 
When, at th' appointed time, it homes again: 
What hath been wrought with it? What 

treasure hath been earned? 
Was 't but for passion's glut, or mere elapse. 
Or for one's self, or common good, its lease 
Was exercised by him who held the grant? 
And when these questions face my life, at last, 
I would not have it droop, in squalid shame. 
For Caius Gracchus' deeds in his short term. 

But thou art very young. Hast labored much; 
Make ease thy love; give up some time to play. 
And when thou hast attained to calmer age. 
Come back again to pubhc life with ripened 
mind. 

What! Are the years of life laid out so sure. 
That man may treat them as a fixed fund. 
On which to draw for this, or that, expense. 
As inclination may dispose his spendthrift will? 
Not so to me. I view each passing day 
As something pilfered from me, and I see. 
In every falling night, the terror of a loss. 
That naught repairs. Life speeds in constant 

ebb. 
It is a cask of water, deftly tapped: 
The outer view shows a small spurting stream, 
But, seen on top, the surface is serene: 



Page46 CAIUS GRACCHUS Act I 

The liquid mass below seems dark, and firm, 
And gleams assurance of a long, unmoved 

repose. 
Thus, while it slowly settles, on the staves 
Wet rounds go dry, and pass away; and still, 
The lowering whole bears, on its lineless face. 
No index of the lessened bulk below. 
But see! There comes a swirl! The constant 

sucking 
First marks the placid surface. There 's alarm ! 
And now, the pangs of dissolution grow 
More turbulent, and more: the remnant sways. 
And agitates, in terror of its fate. 
The while the vacant body dully moans. 
And shivers to the sobbing of the flood. 
Till, in a racing, whirling, gurgling stream, 
That runs more swiftly as it strives to stay. 
The dregs rush out ... 'T is done . . . The 

cask is dry! 



Fann.: 



Gracch.: 



If I interpret thy mind properly. 

It nibbles at immortal fame. Good. Granted. 

But wilt find the road thereto much smoother 

paved. 
While mounting higher, higher in the state 
As brother of its masters, than as now art: 
The creature of every changing whim and mood 
Of that breath-wafted garbage in thy gutter. 

To live forever in the minds of men.f* 

Aye, that 's a moving wish : to cause a passing 

name 
To sound in ears of those as yet unborn, 
When he who claimed it is but powdered dust! 
Man: that which stirs in us, and brings this 

prize. 
Is not invoked by splendor of estate. 
Nor by the laurel won by strife, or craft; 
Yet every whining beggar hath a store 
Of price thereof to spend. 



ActI CAIUS GRACCHUS Page 47 

Drus.: [aside, to Fannius] 

The price is very mean. 

Fann.: [aside, to Drusus] 

He raves! Or else, to balm his recent wound. 
He hath recourse to fancies of future bhss. 



Drus.: 

Gracch.: 



What is this paltry price thou wouldst extol? 



It is the thing named love — the pitying love — 
That closely holds all mortal grief and wrong 
Within its tender fold, and gently smiles 
An understandingness and fragrant cheer. 
That love, broadcast with prodigal uncount. 
Will flow to its first source in after-time — 
Though aeons pass — when one with quivering 

thought 
Yearns for the love of him who one time loved. 
There lies the secret of unending life: 
Immortal love, alone, avails to breach 
The stubborn wall of immortahty! 
Bethink thee that no man may earn such love 
In high estate, nor yet by sheer designing; 
And sense the folly of thine empty words! 

[Shouts. Enter ragged plebeian, accom- 
panied by old woman] 
AntylL: [holding pleb.] 

Hold, witch's son! 



Pleb.: 

Gracch.: 

Pleb.: 



I am no witch's son. 
But one of Caius Gracchus' men! Sweet lord — 

Art troubled? Enter. 

[Pleb. runs in, falls at Gracchus' feet] 

O thou friend and hope 
Of Rome's most poor and lowly ! Certain ones. 
Who saw thy portal frame lord Fannius, 
Now hiss in doubting ears the tale that thou — 
Thou hast forsaken us, the common ones. 
And made soft peace with Rome's accursed rich. 



Page48 CAIUS GRACCHUS Act I 

Whereon — since I am neater garbed than most 
Of Rome's free citizens, who wait thy word 

without — 
An embassy am I, to bring to thee 
Their prayer thou do not leave us for the bribe 
Lord Fannius holds out with which to buy 

thee. 
But stay our gracious father, as of yore. 
Gracch.: 

Shalt stop, and thine own very self shalt hear 
Mine answer. Now arise. No Roman should 
Bend knee to other than a god. Arise! 

[Pleb. rises] 
And this one with thee? 
Pleb.: 

She 's a matron, lord, 
Sent hither by the will of all the people. 
Who seeks thine aid for her young soldier son. 
Gracch.: 

I '11 hear her presently. Rest, mother, rest. 
[Assisted by Licinia, old woman sits on bench] 



Pleb.: 
Fann.: 

Pleb.: 

Fann.: 

Pleb.: 

Fann.: 

Pleb.: 

Fann.: 



Who spoke of bribe for thee, shall rue his 
speech ! 

Dost glibly prate of bribes, my fiery friend; 
Here 's a denarius. Go out and shout : — 
" Hail Fannius! Hail! Hail! " 

That I will not! 

Here 's five denarii. Now wilt thou shout? 

Say'st five? 

Aye, five. 

Yet — is — my — answer no ! 

Here 's ten denarii for thee — thyself. 



Act I CAIUS GRACCHUS Page 49 

Pleb.: 

For — me — myself ? 
Fann.: 

For thee! Now wilt thou shout? 
Pleb.: 

Now — will — I — shout ? For — ten? 
[Cheers by populace] 
Fann.: 

Ten silver coins. 
Lie: 

O gracious Juno, pity us! 

Drus.: [aside] 

The world 
Hangs trembling in the balance for ten coins! 

Calp.: [aside] 

Thou noble Roman citizen! To serve 
Such chosen of the gods was I enslaved! 

Pleb.: 

Ten whole denarii! Why — that — would — 

buy 

Fulv.: [pushes pleb. outward] 

Run! Tell the waiting friends that our good 

chief. 
Great Caius Gracchus, takes no bribe ! Shout 

that! 

Pleb.: [running out] 

Cheer Caius Gracchus, for he hath refused 

A mighty bribe, a very mighty bribe! 
Drus.: 

'T is for himself he cheers. 
Fulv.: 

He 's honest, still. 
Drus.: 

But by another's, not his own free will. 

[Shouts " Hail, Caius Gracchus! "] 



Page50 CAIUS GRACCHUS Act I 

[to Fulvius] 
Take shame! Thou hast despoiled that scurvy 

rat 
Of treasure he will much regret, when once 
The ardor of the instant hath worn off. 

Gracch.: [to old woman] 

Now, mother, speak thy sorrow: let me hear. 
Old Worn.: 

Lord Gracchus ! Be my shield this tearful day. 
And save my boy — my baby! 

[Kneels at Gracchus' feet] 
Gracch.: 

Who art thou-f^ 
Old Worn.: 

A Roman mother. 
Gracch.: 

Of a son? 
Old Worn.: 

Aye, lord, 
Who'th served the city in three long campaigns, 
Was five times wounded, and hath naught to 
eat. 
Gracch.: 

Who wrongs thee.^^ 
Old Worn.: 

One who had much corn, from whom 
My son, to feed us both, took what his hands 
Could carry, of his store. 
Gracch.: 

And now — 
Old Worn.: 

Those hands 
He loses in two days. Gods! 
Fann.: 

For the theft? 
Old Worn.: 

Theft? Theft? And is it theft to take to eat 
When hunger gnaws within, and there 's no 
work to do? 



ActI CAIUS GRACCHUS Page 51 

Fulv.: 

No work? 

Old Worn.: 

No work for those who ask a wage. 
There are too many slaves who work for 

nothing: 
The slaves our conquering soldiers brought to 
Rome! Ha, ha! 

Drus.: [aside, to Fannius] 

There 's humor in the sibyl. 

Fann.: [aside, to Drusus] 

Curse her plaint! 
She makes our task the harder in this house. 

[Turns to old woman] 

But did the youngster, to secure the needs 
Of both of you, make offer of himself 
In servitude .f^ 

Old Worn.: 

In slavery .f^ My son.^^ 
A Roman soldier? 
Fann.: 

Aye — why not? You *re poor? 
Gracch.: 

O monstrous! 
Lie: 

Horrible ! 
Fulv.: 

O swelling heart, 
Void, void the blood that floods thee, or it 

bursts ! 
Stay, murder that invades my straining 

throat. 
And dims mine eyes with red ! . . . That 's 

what they seek: 
To make all toilers slaves ! 



Page52 CAIUS GRACCHUS Act I 

Old Worn.: 

If he had dared 
To such dishonor, I 'd have seen him dead! 

Fann.: 

Dost see him worse ! 

Old Worn.: 

My son! For just a few, 

A paltry few, dried grains of needed corn! 
Drus.: 

That 's theft. That is the law! 

Old Worn.: 

Then change the law! 
Such laws are wicked! Do ye hear? They 're 

vile! 
The law? What was the law when ye called out 
My boy, as soldier, from my side, to face 
The tearing shafts of death? Ye said 'twas 

needful, 
And so I gave him. Now he needs, and I : 
And we, who offered up our lives when bidden. 
Are not to take a little heap of corn — 
We, who to serve you, took a world in arms! 
Law ! Law ! When one who 's naked takes some 

clothes 
From him who hath too many — is that steal- 
ing? 
When one who 's hungry takes some food from 

him 
Whose belly 's crammed — is that a theft ? 

Why? Why? 
It 's need ! Your law — your law that calls it 

wrong, 
Needs curing! Change it! Make it work both 

ways! 
Whom ye 've the right to draft for death, 

have right 
To draft, in turn, the things they need to live ! 



ActI CAIUS GRACCHUS Page 53 

The thief is he who hoards while others starve ! 
That 's law! Oh, save him! Save my little boy! 
Gracch.: 

Alas, I 've not the power, for I 'm not 
A Tribune any longer. Drusus is. 
Beg him. 

Old Worn.: [kneels to Drusus] 

O help me, Tribune! 
Drus.: 

'Tis the law! 
Old Worn.: 

And there 's no help.^* 
Fann.: 

No help, old woman, none. 
Now, get thee hence. 
Gracch.: 

This roof is mine, not thine. 
Stay, rest thee, mother: eat, and pray the gods; 
Perhaps they will have pity on thy boy. 

Old Worn.: 

The gods.f^ There are no gods! There are but 
those 

Who have the gold to make all Romans slaves. 

And we, who serve them, and give up our lives. 

To make them fat: so fat, so fat, so fat! 

There are but we, who should have all, with 
not a thing; 

And they, who, earning not a thing, have all 
of all! 

Ha, ha, the gods! Patricians! Lords! Elect! 

Hell curse you! Curse you, bloated blood- 
suckers ! 

Hell curse you ! Leeches ! Oh, my boy, my boy ! 

His hands! His two dear hands! My darling 
baby's hands! 

[Exit old woman] 
Gracch.: 

Make fast the portals. 



Page54 CAIUS GRACCHUS Act I 

Phil: 



Drus.: 



Gracch. 



Aye, my lord; 't is done. 
[Exit Philocrates] 

Thine eyes have seen. Now hast thou learned 

aught new 
From that ambassador, and that old beldam 
Who oozes anarchy? 

Aye, I 've learned much 
Of evil in that state, wherein one man 
Hath so much wealth, that with the paltriest 

pinch 
From out his smallest coffer, he can buy 
The very inwards of still another, who. 
Because he craves some ease, must sell his 

arm and faith. 
And, also, I have learned from that poor 

mother 
To whom thou wouldst not grant the Trib- 
une's aid. 
To think of it ! He took a few hard grains of 

corn. 
And pays with his two hands; but ye — ^ye take 
Vast lands, hoards, mounds of unearned toll, 

whole provinces. 
Cheat out of taxes, make the courts your tools. 
And Romans gab, and growl, and shake their 

heads, and do — 
Just nothing! Ye enjoy, and scoff, and thrive, 

and thrive. 
By Jupiter! Is all this to endure.'* 
If so, then heaven 's void, all morals jests. 
And laws are but the patter of sheer fools! 
But I will not believe it! No! I '11 not! 
I '11 not believe ye '11 flourish on this wise for- 
ever! 
I '11 not believe the commons will not rise, 
That they will not shake off their stupid sloth, 
Their indolent, their shrinking, cowards' sloth, 



ActI CAIUS GRACCHUS Page 55 

And bring you to a stern accounting on some 

day! 
I '11 not believe it, sirs! I '11 not! I '11 not! 



Fann.: 
Gracch.: 



Fulv.: 



Drus.: 



So, still art — stubborn — intent on thy design? 

Yea! On the morrow, in the Forum, they — 
The pompous master-thieves — those ancient 

ones 
Whom callest Roma's greatest — they, and I, 
Must lay our issues for the whole of Rome to 

judge. 
There smugly plead your hoary rights to take 
What hath not wrung your sweat; tofeastonthat 
Which other hands have culled. But I, again. 
Will cry the truth that no man, or by birth. 
Or by the play of craft, should stand empowered 
To claim command of place, or others' toil. 
Or reverend bow, or usury on that 
Which hath not been amassed by present labor 

done. 
That is my gage; I '11 stake on its true merit 
The issue of the people's voice, whatever 
The guise be of the scheme ye may employ 
To cozen them into some offward move 
Drawn to undo my work for them of many 
years. 

[Shouts of populace: " Gracchus! Hail 
Gracchus! " Sound of closing door. 
Noise of shouting becomes deadened. 
Enter Philocrates; resumes his sta- 
tion] 

There speaks the statesman and the man of 



arms! 



And to that challenge add we all our force 



The dextrous wits that plan for other things 
Will drown thine efforts in some special flood 
Devised to work that end. The surging mob. 
Whose throaty bellow sounds so brave the while. 



Page56 CAIUS GRACCHUS Act I 



Gracch. 



Drus.: 
Gracch.: 



Drus.: 

Fulv.: 

Drus.: 

Fulv.: 
Gracch.: 



Will leave thee, as is left one loathsomely 
Marked leper, when the masters, in accord, 
Bestir their minds to silence thy loose tongue. 

Say'st thou they '11 leave me? Then is Grac- 
chus lost; 

But if I win? Thou fox-head, — if I win? .... 

Hoc age! Count your stakes before ye play ! . . 

Hast heard my words: they point my future 
deeds! 

Then here we part, — and here thy doom is 
sealed. 

Aye, here we part: each to his several fate. 
Thou, Fannius, to thy trough, and Drusus — 

thou — 
Smooth, trilUng cuckoo of the lawless high — 
Take thee the path of dalliance and of lie! 

Enough! This insolence makes patience vile; 
Art forfeit to thy fate, thou reckless man! 

Which runs, at least, with honor, reckful sir: 
\ word thou may'st not use without a blush, 
E'en though thou live to see thy knowing nose 
O'erlap thy clever chin. 

Thou scum! 

Thou — well — thou thou! 



Philocrates ! Conduct lord Drusus as he came. 
And then unfold our inner gate to these. 
[Points to Fannius and Calpio] 
Drus.: 

I fear for thee most poignantly, my friend. 

[Exeunt Drusus and Philocrates, R. ; 
Gracchus, Fulvius, and Licinia, L.] 



ActI CAIUS GRACCHUS Page 57 

Fann.: [aside, to Calpio] 

That woman makes my cooling blood to course 
With ardor and desire I 'd long thought dead. 
Mark well her safety for mine arms' delight, 
When she 's deprived of Gracchus' shielding 
clasp. 

Calp.: [aside, to Fannius] 

Thy Calpio will bring the radiant dame, 
Whole and unsullied, to thy passion's feast. 
[to Antyllius] 
I have some other questions — 



AntylL: 

Calp.: 
AntylL: 
Calp.: 
AntylL: 



Lie: 

Gracch.: 

Lie: 



Not here; I fear. 
I furlough tonight: I '11 meet thee for an hour. 
My purse is flat — my special need distressing. 

At my lord's. 

An hour. Gold coins? 

Hast said. 

Done. 

[Enter Philocrates; bows to Fannius, 
who exits with Calpio, escorted by 
Philocrates and Antyllius. Shouts : 
— " Ah — Fannius! " " Gracchus! Hail 
Gracchus! " Enter Gracchus, Licinia, 
FuLvius. Gracchus and Fulvius bear 
their togas] 

Stay, Caius. Rest at home; my love prays: 
stay ! 

Nay, sweetest wife: those fretful ones await. 
Whom I must court again within the hour, 
Lest, overnight, their fickle memories lose 
The service of two lustrums of full years. 

Then arm thee, husband.^ 



Page58 CAIUS GRACCHUS Act I 

Fulv.: 

That 's my prayer, too. 
Gracch.: 

The Gracchan sword is not for Roman breasts. 

Lie: [lifts sword from wall] 

If not for thine own self — ^for mine, my lord! 

do not challenge Fate with lowered point, 
Nor shed thy buckler when there 's menace by. 
Which thee but once, but me will prove a thou- 
sand times 

With fatal thrust, whilst art abroad. 
Fulv.: 

Take arms! 
Meet feint with blow, and for a wound deal 
death! 

Gracch.: 

1 fight for Rome, not Romans! And this 
sword 's 

A warrior's, not a warder's! 

Lie: 

Dearest love : 
Think well of slain Tiberius, and me. 

Gracch.: 

I pray — beseech — thou do not cast thy tears. 
As fuel, on the raging flames that now 
Consume me. There 's such warfare in my 

breast 
As when two mighty hosts are battle-locked. 
Now grip and tear my love, and earth's 

desire. 
That bend me to the languor of thy bosom; 
And now those mighty legions range the field 
That cry my duty. Wife! Let those win the 

day! 

Fulv.: 

Caius! They fight with club, with pike, with 
secret blade. 



ActI CAIUS GRACCHUS Page 59 

Whom thou opposes t with mild argument. 
Arm right with power! So the gods have done, 
When they have deigned to aid in mortal 
strife ! 

Lie: [lays sword at side of fountain] 

Not so! Not so! Go forth, my love, go forth! 
I feel, I read thy soul, and know its goad! 
And if this kiss be sealed our very last — 
'T is a caress of honor, that Jupiter himself 
May envy any mortal. 

Gracch.: 

Gracious love — 

Fulv.: [to Licinia] 

Thy mind 's my champion, thy heart 's my 

foe; 
I fear your hearts will bring us all much woe! 



Gracch.: 

Phil: 

Fulv,: 
Gracch.: 



[Shouts by populace: " Die, Fannius!"] 

Attend! 

[Enter Philocrates, Antyllius] 

What 's toward there? 

The populace 
Assails lord Fannius ! 

Good! Speed his death! 

O wretched men! Have Romans come so low.f* 
[Strides toward doorway] 



Page60 CAIUS GRACCHUS Act I 

Fulv.: [makes motion to restrain him] 

Nay, Caius, let the hungry, snarHng wolves 
Feed on their meat. 

Gracch.: 

Are we like Drusus, then. 
Or even Fannius — to 'venge a wrong. 
Whose cure is in our wills, with cowards' 

blows? 
Forfend such guilt! 

AntylL: [looks out through doorway] 

My lord, he is o'erwhelmed ! 
Gracch.: 

O craven deed ! Who love me, speed to shield ! 
AntylL: 

My lord, I go! I go! 

[Exit Antyllius] 
Phil: 

This hot despatch 
Hath strangeness in its quality. 

Gracch.: [to Philocrates] 

Wouldst say — ? 
Phil: 

Mine arm lives with my heart. 

Gracch.: [to Fulvius] 

And thou? 
Fulv.: 

I must: 
Persuaded by thy will, but not thy thought. 

Gracch.: 

Then speed! 
Fulv.: 

I bid my leaden self to fly. 

To raise the arm that will assail us. Hi! 

[Exeunt Gracchus, Fulvius, Philoc- 
rates. Cry: " Hail Gracchus! Hail 
Fulvius! Hail Gracchus!''] 



ActI CAIUS GRACCHUS Page 61 

Gracch.: [without] 

Friends, stay your hands, in Rome's proud 

name! 
Halt! Halt! 

[Tumult ceases. Portinus enters stealth- 
ily, takes Gracchus' sword; exit] 

Lie: [in position of adoration] 

Ye gods, who read men's hearts, and know 

their souls, — 
Heed this, my prayer : — Guard and preserve 

my love! 

Curtain 



Fann.: 
Calp.: 



Fann. 



ACT II 

Chamber in Palace of Caius Fannius 

[Before curtain: — voice of one man 
chanting : 

To make one such. 

Who hath too much. 

Ten thousand go with all too little! 

In Vulcan's name. 

Hold, curb and tame: 

The over-rich men's acres whittle! 

Chorus, by many voices: 

They have too much, and we too Utile! 
So let us whittle, whittle, whittle!] 



[Fannius wears several bandages] 

They do not come? 

My lord, all Rome moves here, 
Excepting, only, those for whom we wait. 

[Distant sound of men marching; chant 
by many voices : 

" They have too much, and we too little! 
So let us whittle, whittle, whittle! " ] 

Yelp on, ye slinking curs! Yelp on, before 
The master-brains of Rome appoint the way 
To whip you back to lair, and den, and kennel. 
For ever more to crouch, with lips so sealed 
By cringing fear, and terror's livid lash. 
That for a thousand years, no common crea- 
ture 



Page64 CAIUS GRACCHUS Act II 

Will dare to lift his eye again, to gaze 
Directly on a high-born face! Yelp on, 
Ye toilers with the hand! Soon shall ye woo 
That silence which ye now destroy, as boon 
Most blessed, and with shrinking, quaking, 

freezing hearts. 
Pray for the privacy ye now eschew, 
Lest that your knotted persons may obtrude 

themselves 
To any idly wandering patrician gaze. 
And thereby earn the ironed whip, as instant 

pay! 

[Enter Rutilius] 

Ave! 

Here at last! 

Yes, father. 

O — 't is thou. 

But I. My welcome 's cold? 

Yes, . . . No. . . 

[Distant chant : 

" We 'II whittle, whittle, whittle! " ] 

But stop! 
There 's that I should discuss with thee at 

length. 
Which, to allay th' impatience of a tryst 
Delayed, I '11 speak on now. 

Calp.: 

Sir, by your leave — 

Fann.: [to Calpio] 

I wish thee here. Thou hast a festive sense, 
That sometimes shames mere wisdom. 



Rut: 

Fann.: 

Rut: 

Fann.: 

Rut: 

Fann.: 



ActII CAIUS GRACCHUS Page 65 

Rut: 



Fann.: 
Rut.: 

Fann.: 



Rut: 
Fann.: 

Rut: 

Fann.: 

Rut: 



Hold my back! 

[Calpio stands behind Rutilius] 

Good son! The tripping tongue of rumor speeds 
A brackish tale to my reluctant ear — 

Pan's pipes! What now? And of what heinous 
crime — 

The crime of folly. Yesternight, 't is said, 
With other youths as brainless as thyself, 
Thou didst display to all the eyeing world 
Upon the common highway, such mawkish 

state 
As did more honor to thy vintner's skill. 
Than to the due regard for outward show 
That birth, and ancient rule, impose on thee. 

'T was but a lark. Patricians all, we played — 

There lies the fatal fault — that ye were all 
Patricians. 

But the maids we flushed — 

The maids .^^ 

Aye — that 's the circumstance that first be- 
trayed 
Our play to vulgar view. Night was still day. 
We were a company of Roma's best. 
And oldest, families. We were in haste 
To revel at a Grecian woman's house. 
Where Aphrodite holds her lustful state. 
And teaches, by her adepts, arts of loving 
We, cruder Romans, have not yet attained. 
When at a crossing, lo — a startled flock 
Of common maidens, homeward bound from 
some 



Page66 CAIUS GRACCHUS Act II 

Rite of devotion at the Huntress' shrine. 
To-ho! The game drew chase! Who could 

resist? We pointed! 
And, these in laughter, those in earnest, we, 
First but with words, then hands, and then 

with curling arms, 
Endeavored to induce to pleasant pranks. 
But, of the quarry, some with real, and some 

with mock of fear. 
Sought flight, and so filled the air with piping 

shrieks. 
That soon the scum came pouring from the 

holes 
Wherein they 'd burrowed for the settling 

dark. 
Then — valor had been folly. We withdrew. 
In order, from the fray, as nobles should. 
The maidens scampered on their way. We 

strolled on ours. 
'T was thus the passing frolic ended, quite. 
At least — 



Fann.: 
Rut: 



Fann.: 
Rut: 



And thou wouldst say — 

Within mine arms, 
I held, a little while, a girl more fair 
Than has made glad man's eyes since that 

far day 
When Troiia's prince first saw his Helen's 

radiance gleam. 
But innocent, scarce ripe : her rounded breasts — 

Forbear! What 's more to tell of the event .'^ 

While struggling in the prison of mine eager 

hold. 
She cried: " I know thee, son of Fannius! 
My father is Antyllius — great Gracchus' guard ! 
Shalt know his wrath when he hears of my 

hurt! " 



Act II 
Fann.: 
Rut: 
Fann.: 

Rut: 

Fann.: 
Rut.: 

Fann.: 

Rut: 

Fann.: 

Calp.: 

Rut: 
Fann.: 

Rut: 



CAIUS GRACCHUS Page 67 



Antyllius ! 

The same. What then? 

Most strange! 
What sightless cast of Chance is this? Or, 

is it some 
Untoward throw of Fate's enmeshing strands? 

Chance? Fate? Hail, both! By Jove's seductive 

eye! 
I swear I shall enjoy that maid ere cocks crow 

thrice ! 

Dost rave! 

That I do not! My mind is set. 
I burn with hot desire : such craving as never 

yet 

Hath shriveled mortal flesh with amorous fire. 

Son — ^this Antyllius is now applied 
In service that 's most urgent to us all. 
But for his sheltering steel, I were a corpse 
this hour. 



Antyllius — and thou — ? 

He is our spy. 

He 'waits me in the courtyard now, to tell, 
tell, tell! 

I '11 have the maid ! 

Antyllius is one 
Who would most mightily avenge his wrong. 

I '11 have the maid ! 'T is but a common man. 



Page68 CAIUS GRACCHUS Act II 

In ranks, whom wouldst hold out to balk my 

will; 
I '11 have the maid, e'en though a legion full 
Of sweaty plebs maintained her moated keep. 
He 's here; he does not know. He must not 

leave to learn. 



Fann.: 

Calp.: 
Fann.: 

Calp.: 

Rut.: 
Calp.: 

Fann.: 



Rut.: 



Come, Calpio: hast moved the boy, at times; 
What say'st? 

The youth sounds valor with his words. 

He is of noble stock, and gracious line, 
But of this madness — 

Sir, — in high-born ones. 
The will to have flares out in various ways, 
Of which the common herd must pay the due; 
For this are ye the lords — and those the folk. 

Ha, Calpio ! Some day I '11 make thee free ! 

I 've thrived so long in careless state, as will- 
less slave, 

I 'd faint beneath th' oppressive freedman's 
load. 

Now end this Attic salt. The instant questions. 
That press for quick solution, make thy will 
To this one rape an added load upon 
My groaning back. Bethink thee well, my son: 
Forego this thing. 

I '11 have the maid ! I crave 
Her body for my pleasure. It were vain 
To be a noble born, and to possess 
Unnumbered stores of wealth, if still the strong 
Insistence of the flesh were wronged with iced 

denial. 
It is my due! I '11 have the maid! 



ActII CAIUS GRACCHUS Page 69 

Fann.: 

What must 
Will be; yet this thou owest to thyself: 
Still to debate thee both thy loss, and gain, 
In every act that 's traced to thine own hand. 

[Chant by many voices: 

" They have too much, and we too little! 
So let us whittle, whittle, whittle! " ] 

Dost hear that demon's song? It sounds a 

threat 
More present than thy greenling mind absorbs. 
Mark well those words! 

[Chant by one voice: 

" So let us whittle, whittle, whittle! " ] 



Rut: 
Fann.: 

Rut: 
Fann.: 



Rut: 



I did not write the song. 

But thou may'st write its sequel by thy frolics; 
A sequel that will fall upon thy head 
With splintering force. Bethink thee of the fate 
Of Appius Claudius.* 

Art bound to chide? 

Not chide — but teach. Give heed to mine 

advice. 
x4rt rich and noble. Thou art both because 
The futile mass we call plebeian dogs 
Believe thee better than themselves. That 

thought 
It is the business of thy life to make 
Grow ever more established in their minds. 

Thy words are pleasing. 



Vide story of Virginius 



Page70 CAIUS GRACCHUS Act II 

Fann.: 

Attend still further, son. 
Thy Hfe is but a sacrifice to effort 
For those of lower fortune, whom the gods 
Have, in their wisdom, ordered to be poor. 
And servants of thine hands. So! That's the 

part 
Assigned to thee, by Fate, to play. And while 
Thou dost impersonate that character with 

skill. 
The world of joy, and pleasure, is all thine. 
To sate the appetite for what thou wilt; 
Take that which lures thee most; enjoy the 

best 
Of all the things that woo thee: murder, — 

cheat, — 
Suborn the magistrates, — seize virgin maidens 
To grace thine orgies, — send a myriad men 
To bloody war, to please some paltry passing 

whim. 
Or yet to heap up treasures in thy chests; 
They '11 serve, those fools: they '11 pay — 

they '11 slay their own — 
And hail thee great, besides, and cheer thy 

name. 
If only dost pretend — and do it well! 



Calp.: 
Fann.: 



Give ear! Give ear! Pretend! Pretend 's the 
word! 

Pretense and Cunning! These are the twin 

pillars 
That hold aloft the house of High Estate. 
Play that which thou art not, with studied 

noise. 
Do that which is thyself, in quiet style. 
Or such that none remain who may avenge. 
Or make a public talk that ever can be heard. 
Preach virtue, piety, and loyalness, 
But see these poisons ne'er infect thyself. 



ActII CAIUS GRACCHUS Page 71 

Acclaim as patriots the cringing servile, 
Denounce as traitors who presume to free-born 

thought. 
Be quick with vengeance on who dare thy rule, 
And lean on Terror as thy surest aid; 
But if the plebs essay to strike in turn. 
Hire hostile chiefs to force thy yoke on rebel 

necks. 
And, having mastered, pave the land with 

twisted dead! 
Make life a thing of profit. Every act 
He who is destined to high place commits 
Is first well planned to bear the heavy fruit 
Of rich reward. Do naught for naught! Hold 

that! 
Who hath, is master; who hath not, is slave. 
Who wins is virtuous; the loser's knave. 
To those, the common ones, allot the bliss 
Of great rewards in some uncertain future 

state; 
But grasp thy profit here — and reach for 

more, and more! 



Rut: 
Fann.: 



But great ones sometimes give with lavish 
hand.^^ 

Give charity for profit, but make very sure 
Its trickling is well trumpeted to every ear; 
Tag public benefactions with thy name. 
But, suck out thrice their cost by increased 

tolls. 
Keep wary eye on scribblers,* for there is 
Malignant power in the fluent pen. 
Command its scraping; hold its adepts as 
Thy strumpet heralds: or by gold, or guile, 
Or else by making easy to be grasped 



* There was a stringent law against the publishing of offensive satires. Macaulay 
says that while Rome acquired practically all her literary style from other 
nations, satire was her own highly developed production. 



Page72 CAIUS GRACCHUS Act II 

The laurel to thy panders, in the while, 
Thou dost, by shouted laughter, or high scorn. 
All paid for from thy purse, make come still- 
born 
The offspring of the hostile-flavored brain. 



Rut: 
Fann.: 



Rut: 
Fann. 



Rut: 
Fann. 



How still the empty stomachs, when they yelp? 

Make phrases. When most filching, speak most 
fine! 

The vulgar all to lick-spittling incline; 

Emotions for the low — for us the loot; 

Urge them to sacrifice: and snatch its lus- 
cious fruit. 

Yet, time, and time, they force the shield of 

\SiWS? 

Keep Janus' temple gaping. All the rights 
They toilsomely attain while reveling in peace. 
These aspen-brained cast off with gladsome 

shout 
Whene'er we sound a martial strain without. 
Roll up thine eyes, and shout: " Our duty 

first!" 
And strip them, while their gusts of fervor 

burst! 
Declaim sonorously of Honor, Right, 
Of Trust, and Faith, and Love's Ennobling 

Light; 
Sing Sweet Contentment to the timorous mob, 
But, or in peace or war: lie, rob, lie, rob! 

But there are others who will do the same? 

Make common cause with those of thine own 

kind; 
Eternal plotting is th' eternal base 
Of rule of caste by caste. But plot and war 

by stealth. 



ActII CAIUS GRACCHUS Page 73 

Rut: 



Calp.: 
Fann.: 



Rut: 

Fann.: 

Rut: 

Fann.: 



What if betrayed, — arraigned? 

Thy mind 's acute. 

If ever by some clear-eyed foe art charged 
With any of these deeds, — in shrieking ire 
Call every god as witness to the stark 
And vicious falseness of his horrid slander; 
Invoke the glory of the Roman name. 
And fill the air with noble-sounding words. 
While in a minor tone thou sowest dark hints 
Of nameless ills to come if art denied thy ways. 
Whereon, the stupid rabble will denounce 
These libellous aspersions at thy call. 
And, at thy bidding, they will join to prove 
Their splendid, lofty spirit, and to earn 
The graciousness of thy approval, by dis- 
patching 
The bawling plaintiff from the Tarpeian Rock, 
As enemy of Rome. 'T is thus the slinking cur. 
Kept starving by his master, fawns on him. 
When called to bark or bite; in hope, withal. 

To earn a passing pat, or rancid bone 

Such is the wisdom of the world, that hath been 
Since earth was earth, — and will be for all 
time. 

Thy counsel's weight allows of no retort . . . 

Hast learned the need of caution in thy sport .^ 

There 's naught I 've learned that makes me 

more afraid; 
I say again: I '11 have that lovely maid! " 

Then dost thou still impress me with the task 
To make her succorless . . . Perplexing . . . 
[to Calpio] 

What say'st.?^ 



Page 74 CAIUS GRACCHUS Act II 

Calp.: 



Rut: 

Fann.: 

Guard: 
Fann.: 



Opim.: 
Fann.: 

Opim.: 



It may be done, perhaps, but — 

Shame on thee, — 
To bring a " but " into so fine a speech! 
Sing once again, without that jarring screech! 

Thy humor 's vile — 

[Enter guard] 

My lord : the Consul 's here. 

Admit him. 

[Exit guard] 
Now the gods be praised ! Here 's one 
Who drives his scruples where his needs com- 
mand; 
A worthy master in a troubled land! 

[Enter Opimius] 
Hail, first of Romans ! Take my flowing thanks 
For calling council in this humble place. 

Thy body's wrongs call louder than thy voice. 
And, as thy words, win both my love and trust. 

To both of these I urge Rutilius, 
My son, whose presence I would fain have 
here. 

Why not? It shall be so. The fledgling must 
Try out his wings some day : well struck the 
hour. 



Rut.: [aside, to Calpio] 

In this grave council, all I have to say 
Is that I 'd like my little maid to-day. 

Calp.: [aside, to Rutilius] 

Full often, for one high-born youth's desire, 
Have nations kindled war's consuming fire. 



ActII CAIUS GRACCHUS Page 75 

Opim.: 



Fann.: 
Opim.: 

Fann.: 
Opim.: 

Fann.: 



Opim.: 
Fann.: 



Our Drusus tells me, good friend Fannius, 
Your several missions of this day were both 
As vain as harmful? 

Harmful? How the harm? 

In that the Gracchus hath full warning, now, 
Of our declared intent to send him hence. 
To join his dear Tiberius — like friend 
Of Rome's unkempt — in ghostly revelry. 

That is of small concern. The man is daft. 

In your debate, did he uncover aught 
Of understanding of the prime design 
Of Drusus', and of thine, conjoint attack 
On every bulwark of his resolution? 

He sees but his own dreamings. We two moved 
As had been planned: our efforts were as 

thinning smoke. 
I boldly stormed his porch, the while our men 
Sped news throughout the waiting throng that 

now 
The Gracchus had made peace with us, and 

ours; 
And Drusus, moving quietly, made shift 
To gain an entrance by the rear, and as 
By chance, he merged his counsel into mine, 
To talk of peace to Gracchus. But he 'd have 
None of our bait. With rolling eye, he spewed 
Fine speeches about souls, and duty, and like 
Phantasmal fancies of his flighty mind. 

There is the pity. Had he but said *' peace," 
It had been simple to hang up his fleece. 

His fleece? I 'd like to hang his steaming 
bowels ! 



Page 76 CAIUS GRACCHUS Act II 

I 'd like — enough of that! To-morrow night 

Or sees us masters over all, or else 

But creatures of the riff-raff's will, at last. 



Opim.: 
Fann.: 

Opim.: 
Fann.: 
Opim.: 
Fann.: 
Calp.: 

Opim.: 



Fann. 



Opim.: 



The urns? 

Th' event 's too precious to venture 
Its outcome on so light and poor a cog. 

It cheated Gracchus. 

Aye — but they suspect. 

What are his schemes? 

Repeat them, Calpio. 

A tyrant's throne for Gracchus; limit thrift; 
Steal our estates. I '11 learn the rest anon. 
[Fannius motions to Calpio, who exits.] 



So that's it? By Hecate! Our purses bound 
By cordage, as is bound a snarling dog? 
Ourselves deprived of means to bribe, to rule? 
By all the darting demons of deep hell, 
I cry to war! War! Bloody, blasting war! 

I breathe to say thy words. None others come. 
But let us wait our Drusus' counsel; he 
Hath laid a stratagem our minds should weigh. 

I '11 leash mine anger, till he comes. And yet. 
At times I fear this subtle, and his wit: 
What if ambition should inflame his comb? 
A timely caution to the foaming mob 



ActII CAIUS GRACCHUS Page 77 

Fann.: 

He hath his use, and, useful, should be used. 
The cattle, driven to the slaughter-pen. 
Soon sense the horrid blood-air that pollutes 
The dreadful region, where, in former days. 
By myriads, their kind have twitched and died. 
They roll their eyes, and snort in sudden fear, 
Then toss their curving horns in growing rage, 
Stamp on the earth, and threaten, all at once, 
To sweep across the plain in thunderous mass. 
That must leave death, and beaten ruin, in its 
wake. 

'T is now the drover, skilful in his trade. 
Lays by the goad, abates his boisterous shout, 
And no more seeks to urge the doomed ones 
onward. 

With gentle gesture, and with softened, cooing 
voice. 

He brings his bell-cow on, instead, which, 
trained 

To prance, with flirting tail, and merry step, 
A-down the funneled ways, that bring the meat 
Within the shthering reach of sharpened knives. 
Or of the heavy hammers, plied by butchers. 
Leads on her followers, with honeyed moos. 
The herd, its fears forgotten, follow her. 
As something loved, and of one's own — a 
friend — 

Who knows the path, and beckons on to 
peace — 

And never knows the truth, until the strokes 
Rain on the heavy bodies, dealing death — 
The while the winsome leader passes on. 
Unharmed, to play her destined part again 
With countless victims, gathered for man's use. 
But if, perchance, that gladsome, grizzly thing 
Seems but to pause — or shirk her treacherous 
task — 



Page78 CAIUS GRACCHUS Act II 



Opim.: 
Fann.: 
Opim.: 

Calpio: 
Fann.: 

Opim.: 

Drus.: 
Fann.: 
Opim.: 

Drus.: 

Opim.: 



The herder shly makes a sign, and lo, — 
The tempter shares one end with those she 
tempts.* 

Then, in the recess of thine eye, a beam 
Keeps constant play on Drusus? 

As, in fence, 
The swordsman does, so I. 

Then I 'm content. 

[Enter Calpio] 

The Tribune Drusus. 



Say to him: we wait. 

[Exit Calpio] 

I hope he brings us action, not mere talk. 
[Enter Drusus, Calpio] 

My lords — ^your servant. 

Nay — thy debtors, we. 

The Gracchus dies; on that we have resolved! 
'T is thine to plan for us his wan retreat. 

Who picks a fruit that is not ripe to eat. 
But grasps a colic, and wastes future meat. 

Thy riddle is not plain. Speak out ! Speak out ! 
They scheme to filch our lands, to limit what 
The measure of our wealth shall be ! 

*It is interesting to note that, while the indicated fate did not overtake the 
Drusus of this generation, it did come to pass in the case of his son, of like name, 
some thirty years later. The younger Drusus played the same role in public life 
that his father had found so profitable. One day he overacted his part ; the 
patricians became suspicious, and he was promptly murdered ; apparently in his 
own home. — Ant. — Liviae leges. 



Act II CAIUS GRACCHUS Page 79 

Drus.: 

My thoughts 
Revert to tha,t ill-managed day in Rome 
When certain brave patricians, streaming forth 
From out the Senate House, by hasty cudgel- 
blows 
Wrote " Veto " on the two times Tribuneship 
The first-born Gracchus thought to claim his 
own. 



Opim.: 
Drus.: 

Rut: 



The tale is old. 

And one I do not like 
For those miscast events that followed in its 
train. 

Dost mean the wondrous sport our nobles 
had 

With BiUius*, who, couched, for his ease, 

Within a cask that had been bedded down 

With vipers, learned, in that soft company. 

The lesson of a tongue too swift and sharp? 

Or of the candied maggot-trap that was pre- 
pared 

For others of that Gracchus' friends, which 
some 

Have named the Persian boat**.^ 'T would be 
a lark 

To see such games played once again with 
those 

Who, with the Gracchus, fight the sacred gods, 
and us. 



* After the assassination of Tiberius Gracchus, the patricians murdered his friend 
Caius Billius, by placing him in a barrel that contained deadly snakes. 

** The Persian boat : — The body of the condemned man was thoroughly smeared 
with honey. He was then placed in a boat. Another boat, inverted, enclosed him. 
His head and feet protruded. He was forcibly fed milk and honey. His position 
was so maintained that the sun always shone in his eyes. He was actually eaten 
alive by worms, ants, etc. The victim generally suffered many days before death 
came to his relief. 



Drus.: 



PageSO CAIUS GRACCHUS Act II 

Opim.: 

The youth hath spirit, and a sprightly sense. 

[Strides up and down chamber] 

To Kmit wealth! Ha, ha! To take away 
The lands we 've held for generations past! 

Not those my thoughts. My shrinking mind 

reviewed 
The passion of the mob, robbed of that rascal; 
And all the melancholy pain that then 
Came to our own Nasica, daring man. 
Who, raising " Law and Order " * as his cry, 
Defied the faint-heart Consul, and the rest 
Of those then Senators, who rather chose 
To judge the elder Gracchus by the statutes. 
Than by the good right arm patrician men 
Are born to use against their foes. 'T was he 
Who led the noble band that strewed the 

brains 
Of that Tiberius upon the paving 
Of the CapitoHne. And yet the splendid deed 
Was so ill-planned, that our Nasica perished, 
A fugitive, — in exile. Then, there was 
Popilius, the stalwart, who sped to doom 
So vast a crew of Gracchus' fellows: he, too, 

fled, 
A wanderer from home. Such precious price 

was paid 
For that one proper killing, all too rashly 

worked. 

Hell take all history ! To-day 's what hurts ! 

* It being evident that Tiberius Gracchus would be re-elected Tribune, and that 
the protective laws would be carried, the patricians raised the cry that he was 
aiming to make himself King. S. Nasica, at that time Pontifex Maximus, called on 
the Consul to order Gracchus destroyed. The Consul said that it was proper to 
wait until Gracchus had done something illegal, and then take action under the laws. 
In the language of Plutarch : " Upon which Nasica started up, and said : ' Since 
the Consul gives up his country, let all who choose to support the laws follow me.'" 
Thereupon Nasica, and his followers, covering their heads with their cloaks of 
office, rushed out to the Rostra, where they scattered Tiberius' brains with blows 
of a bludgeon, and murdered about three hundred of his friends. 



Opim.: 



ActII CAIUS GRACCHUS Page 81 

Fann.: 

The burden chafes. Dost know full well there *s 

naught 
We may invoke against this scurrilous rogue — 
The living Gracchus — that will serve to win 
The low-born mob from him. But he must die! 

Must die! 

Drus.: 

Still, there 's a way — 

Opim.: [strides across chamber] 

Then show it! Show it, sir! 
Those mangy curs! Those vermin! 



Fann.: 
Drus.: 



Thou hast a thought.^ 



The same as when I counseled those loose laws 
That are ascribed to me on our tablets. 
When Gracchus called for two new towns, I 

said: 
" Deny it not, but in the Senate's name. 
Thrust down those hungry gullets laws that call 
For five times that." When he, to draw the 

love 
Of that land-lusting multitude, ordained 
To grant them soil at some small fee, I coun- 
tered : 
" No fee at all! Give gifts! " And so, to-day 

ye see 
About the Gracchus but a part of those 
Who, twelve short months ago, acclaimed him 

their sole chief; 
Wherefore are we now ready to put knife 
To all these damned laws, and with one blow 
Destroy them, — every one, — both his and mine. 
But still, slow caution must guard our every 

deed, 
Lest from some rashness we may come to need. 



Page82 CAIUS GRACCHUS Act II 



Fann.: 
Drus.: 



Come to the barb! Show up thy barb! Thy 
barb! 

Thy plots have won their gain. Go on; go on. 

To end the Gracchus, we must first destroy 
The trustful love the people bear him. That 
May not be done by frontal open storming; 
No, no, — it must be done by flanking blow: 
Some feint, that will within the eye-wink draw 
The popular regard from Gracchus as he is. 
And hold its gaze on that which is as foreign 
To him, as is the mole to lark. It calls 
A play on that most potent weakness that 's 
Implanted in the commons, and aye held 
For use by us : — their squashy sentiment 
For things on high,— that always serves the ends 
Of those who scrape with skill on this most 
mellow string. 

Opim.: [strides up and down chamber] 

They 'd put a virgin's girdle round us, hey.^^ 
I '11 answer with a circlet 'round their necks 
That shall choke off their bellies, tongues and 

brains. 
And make of plebs gaunt poles of muscled toil ! 
[Stops, points at Drusus] 

By all the labors of the patient Hercules, — 
Thy plan! Thou hast a plan? 



Drus.: 



Fann.: 
Drus.: 



Aye, that I have. 
To-morrow we '11 debate, not of the laws. 
Nor of the rich, nor poor, as Gracchus dreams. 
But of quite other things. 

There is naught else. 
We '11 make a something else. 



ActII CAIUS GRACCHUS Page 83 

Ojylm.: 

Thou wilt invoke — 
Drus.: 

The gods. 
Oj)im.: 

The gods? Where drifts thy mind? 
Rut.: [aside, to Calpio] 

More gods! 



Drus.: 



Opim.: 



Fann.: 
Drus.: 



When I was but a youth, my sire imposed 
This rule on me : — to reach, with dart, the gray 

goose 
That makes its flight across the dreary moor, 
First thou must learn the art of gently stalking 

it. 
Think not to catch the bird by forward rush; — 
Nay — it behooves thee well to learn some 

squawk 
That will distract it from the native pull of 

caution. 
Then may'st approach it, hidden by some 

copse. 
And while it thrills, enchanted by thy winning 

call, 
Send in thine arrow! The game will fall. 

Ye gathered gods, — thou hast a pretty tongue! 
The fable 's wise. But how 's our purpose 
served? 

[Strides across chamber] 
I '11 make their hill a sowage of small brick. 
The home of hooting owls, of prowling wolves ! 

And how the gods? 

There are four hoary frauds. 
Whose battered masks, bedaubed with new 

red dyes, 
Avail to smother, in the vulgar herd. 
The will to strike the shackles from their limbs. 



Page84 CAIUS GRACCHUS Act II 

If any preach a new religion, or 
A new philosophy, or base for happier life, 
Or any thought that threatens those who rule, 
Shout: " Rape! They seek to violate our 

homes! " 
Or "Woe! They'd murder all our thrifty 

men! " 
Or "Treason! They design to wreck our 

state! " 
Or " Sacrilege! They flout Religion, gods! " 
The saying makes it so: none dares dispute, 
Lest gibbering fellows vilify his good repute. 
And so, these win. To-day, I choose the gods. 
With which to fright those oxen-witted clods. 



Ojnm.: 
Drus.: 



Opim.: 



Drus. 



Opim.: 
Drus.: 



Go on! 

To-morrow that shall fall, for which 
Our yeasty plebs will lose all thought of gold. 
And land, and price of corn, and right to vote: 
And think of Caius Gracchus only as 
A wretch so wicked, that 't will be a task 
Stamped holy, and most pleasing to the watch- 
ful gods. 
To rid the land of him, and all his hateful like. 

But Gracchus hath done naught. He is a tit. 
Who rocks the nation with his acrid chirp. 
But guards his arm, with coward's careful craft. 
The villain hath done naught! 

Nor will he do. 
But, 't will be done for him ; and to his arm 
The deed will be so skillfully applied. 
He '11 swear that to himself his own two hands 
have lied. 

Speak to the project! 

That I do, apace. 



ActII CAIUS GRACCHUS Page 85 

Rome's ancient custom is, that in the hour 
When all have gathered for the ballots' test, 
Thou, noble Consul, shalt make offering 
To heaven's host and that the entrails, then. 
Plucked from the fresh-slain victim, and well 

scanned 
By the haruspices, shall be presented 
For confirmation to the Lord of Priests. 



Opim.: 



Drus.. 



Fann.: 
Drus.: 



Fann. 



Opim.: 



All that is well. The belly -rippers have been 

told 
What they 're to read, and when. 

My point's not there. 
While on his way with this most sacred charge, 
Thy hctor shall be slaughtered by the blows 
Of Caius Gracchus' friends — 

I almost see . . . 

Of Caius Gracchus' friends, or those who seem 
In verity to be of them. Then, — vale 
To talk of land, and gold, and rich, and poor. 
And laws, and right and wrong, and like 

real things! 
Shriek "Sacrilege!" and with that awful cry. 
Make end of Gracchus, and of all his frenzied 

tribe. 
I 've spoken. 

And hast spoken well. 
\to Opimius] 

Say'st so? 

It means the shedding of a lictor's blood .... 
And if thine effort fail, and, in a while. 
By some mischance, the truth becomes re- 
vealed? 



Page86 CAIUS GRACCHUS Act II 

Drus.: 

What 's set in the confusion's moment, stays 
The fixed event: the common mind accepts 
The impress of the seal that ready brains and 

tongues 
Aflix while all the passions are in flux; 
And naught of protest, or of proof, avails 
To change that image in the after-days. 

[Sound of men marching in distance, 

chanting: 

" So let us whittle, whittle, whittle! " ] 



Fann.: 



Opim. 



Hear that! Or commons' blood, or our own 

ease. 
The field allows no truce; who rules must kill; 
This one by sword, and this by scheme, but 

still. 
Who would sit high, must have a bloody will. 

I place my hand in thine, and cry to play! 
The nobles, rich, and gods shall win the day! 



Rut.: [aside, to Calpio] 

I 've sat in patience, while they Ve moaned 

and brayed. 
But have not heard a word about my maid. 

Calp.: [aside, to Rutilius] 

Be cheered, good sir. Within thy sire's keen 

mind, 
I feel a thought is forming, of some kind. 
That soon will serve thy pleasure, and his 

pressing need. 
Behold ! He leaps to ride the new-foaled steed ! 

Fann.: 

But if thou, gracious Consul, wouldst not lose 
One of thy proven hctors, I '11 uncover 
Another for the death, who shall display 
Thy hvery, and Pluto's, the same day. 



ActII CAIUS GRACCHUS Page 87 

Opim.: 

Hast such a man? 
Fann.: 

I have: he takes my pay, 
As spy, in Gracchus' household. 
Opim.: 

That sounds well. 
Rut.: [aside, to Calpio] 

Sweet, wondrous night! I have my little maid! 

Fann.: [to Calpio] 

That scurvy spy is here, my Calpio? 
Calp.: 

My lord, — Antyllius is in the court. 
Fann.: 

He 'th spewked his mind? 
Calp.: 

His soul. He 's empty, quite. 
Fann.: 

Go, bid him hither. 

[Exit Calpio] 
Drus.: 

Now we have the corpse, — 
Who is to butcher him? 

[Enter Calpio] 
Fann.: 

My man — my slave — 
My Calpio, who, habited alike 
With Gracchus' friends, shall give the fatal 
thrust. 
Calp.: 

My lord — my lord — 
Fann.: 

Wouldst argue? 
Calp.: 

Nay, but yet — 
Fann.: 

No harm shall reach thee. The law, that sorry 

jade. 
The Gorgon of the plebs, but our meek maid. 



Page88 CAIUS GRACCHUS Act II 



Drus.: 



AntylL: 

Opim.: 

Fann.: 



Shall neither see, nor know thy person, so, 
Thy crime comes aptly, as our wills may 
show. 

Now grasp this lesson of th' assassin's craft: 
Thy victim, dying, may betray thee yet, 
If he but names thee with his rattling breath. 
Strike in the throat! So silence wins with 
death! 

[Enter Antyllius] 

My honored lord — 

He seems a likely man. 

Antylhus: — ^hast served me faithfully; 

So, learn of thy reward, which, from the grace 

Of our full pleasure of thy toil, we give. 



Calp.: [aside] 

Prick up thine ears, sweet corpse, and earn thy 
killing ! 



AntylL: 



I 've served thee, master, as my station called. 
And if at times the task has irked me, I 
Had naught to do but tug my brain to 

contemplation 
Of thy great purse, and my dire need. When 

some 
Blabbed tales of a new state, in which no one 
Had or too much or not enough, I 've swept 

the folly 
From out the chambers of my mind, with this 
Wise argument: — let others fear the high; 
I serve them, and the meed of my reward 
Will place me, soon, where I need never know 
Gaunt want as guest again. I have a daugh- 
ter — 
A budding maid; my dream hath been to 
garner 



ActII CAIUS GRACCHUS Page 89 

A measure of industrious coin to earn her 
shelter. 

Rut.: [aside, to Calpio] 

Hear that? A bud! I '11 shelter her, — myself! 

Fann.: 

Enough! Enough! Thy tasteless task is done, 
And soon shalt be a stranger to all need. 

Calp.: [aside, to Rutilius] 

And fear of need, besides, thou faithful man! 
Fann.: 

Now servest thou no longer me; instead, 

Art hetor to our gracious Consul — to 

The lord Opimius. 
AntylL: 

The Consul's man! 

O bounteous gods! I '11 post me home at 
once. 

And shout the cheer to my most anxious girl. 

Rut.: [half rises, in agitation] 
Not— 

Calp.: [hastily] 

Stay — 
Fann.: [evenly] 

Thy service holds thee here this night. 

AntylL: [pleadingly] 
My lord — 
Fann.: 

Hast heard — 
AntylL: 

But there 's a moving reason — 
Fann.: 

A soldier reasons by obeying. 
AntylL: 

I obey. 



Page 90 CAIUS GRACCHUS Act II 

Fann.: 

'T is well; thy news will be no less a joy- 
When, splendid in thy marks of new prefer- 
ment, 
Dost home to-morrow. Now, wait, in yonder 

court. 
The detail of thy new employment. 



AntylL: 



I wait. 
The Consul's lictor! Fortune's mantle warms! 

[Exit Antyllius] 



Rut.: [sinks back, relieved] 
Ye gods! 

Fann.: [to Rutilius] 

On what a wisp man's fate is borne! 
A breath, a word, an insubstantial thought. 
And empires crash, or peoples disappear .... 

[turns to Calpio] 

Thou, Calpio, wilt charge him with his task 
Betimes, and hold him fast.'^ 



Calf.: 
Drus.: 



Opim.: 



'T is done, my lord. 

There! There 's a proper pleb ! He knows his 

poor man's place. 
He '11 die most happy. Now let 's set the plan 
For the depletion of the Gracchus' ranks. 
That will relieve us of those raucous hounds 
Who urge the dull-brained pack to battle: 

mouthing curs. 
Who agitate the servile class, and breed 
Displeasure, discontent, and struggling effort ! 

I have a roll that bears three thousand names. 



Act II CAIUS GRACCHUS Page 91 

Rut: 



Fann.: 

Opim.: 
Drus.: 



Opim.: 



That 's ten for one ! Three hundred names* 

sustain 
The burden of our Roma's men of worth. 

Well spoken: and that hst shall be announced 
Among the shades before we call the halt. 

Th' assassins — 

I have found. A husky band 
Of soldiers, who, for some huzzahs and pay, 
Will show to our aspiring citizens 
The way to long, and toilless, peaceful sleep. 





But if they arm and fight .^ 


Drus.: 


That they will not. 


Opim.: 




rivoio ' 


Thy certainty — 


UTUb.. 


Is founded on the fact; 




That half-wit cries the hoHness of statutes, 




And prates the sacred state of magistrates. 


Opim.: 






Our statutes — 


Fann.: 






Our magistrates. 


Rut: 






Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! 




'T is well, 't is so. 


Opim.: 






'T were ill were 't not so. 




[Enter guard] 


Guard.: 






The Pontifex, and other lords, have come! 



* Livy and Cicero seem to agree in limiting the number of the patrician families to 
three hundred. 



Page92 CAIUS GRACCHUS Act II 

Fann.: 



We greet them. 

[Exeunt all but Calpio] 



Calp.: 



Drus.: 



I 'm to kill a Roman ! Gods ! 
Stark fear, and pride, contend in me, apace: 
Myself to kill one of this hated race! 

[Enter Pontifex, Fannius, Opimius, 
Drusus, Rutilius, Priests, Senators, 
etc.] 

Fann.: [to Pontifex] 

High-favored sir,* my humble home is graced 
By the benignity of thine approach. 

Pont.: 

It is but meet that in this dreadful hour. 
The gods seek wisdom from Rome's men of 
power. 

Our brains have moved; the springal's set; 
and now, 

Naught 's left, high sirs, but for you all, and 
thou. 

Our highest priest, and those who serve thy 
hands. 

To turn what is our counsel into your com- 
mands. 

Lords, senators and judges, praefects — friends ! 
Our Drusus hath prepared your several parts. 
Which, on the morrow, when the shaft is loosed 
That is to end the Gracchan lunacy. 
Each must perform to win this dreadful fight. 

Pont: [points to senators, magistrates , praefects, etc.] 
We are thy soldiers: order as thou wilt. 



* The position of the Pontifex Maximus was rather an anomalous one. He was the 
head of the priests, but was not strictly a priest, in the modem significance of the 
term. 



Opim.: 



AcTlI CAIUS GRACCHUS Page 93 

Calp.: [aside, to Rutilius] 

See how persuasive is the voice of gold? 

Rut.: [aside, to Calpio] 

I have that maiden in my straining hold! 



Drus.: 



To-morrow, enter on the Forum, lords. 
Prepared to rend your cloaks, and pluck your 

hairs, 
And cry "Alas!" and weep with splashing 

tears. 
Fit to alarm the mob, and press its fears. 
The signal will be yours when, to your ears. 
There wings the swelling shout of " Sacrilege! " 
Then fleetly make your way to where we stand. 
And, shrieking '* Sacrilege! " wave hands on 

high, 
And mingle frenzied shout with anguished sob 

and cry 

Curtain 



ACT III 

The Forum 

[Curtain discloses the Rostra; crowd 
standing up to its edges. With rising 
of curtain, chant by crowd: 
" They have too much, and we too little! 
So let us whittle, whittle, whittle! " ] 

at: 

Ho! Silence! Caius Gracchus speaks! 
Voices: 

Still! StiU! 
Gracch.: 

My honest Romans! Here, where he I loved — 
Tiberius — was foully, basely, slain. 
Here I, his brother, stand, to-day, foredoomed 
To death as merciless* — 



Voices: 
Gracch.: 



No, no, no, no 



Pleb., 

at: 



But it is true! The cunning brains that plan 
For profit, and for power, night and day. 
Have so ordained, and now, they boast, this 

very hour, — 
Invoking law to hide their Anarchy, — 
They '11 still my hfe, so as to still my tongue: 
These most respectable patrician lords! 

We'Udie with thee! 

Thy brother's brother, hail! 



The resignation of Caius Gracchus to his fate, which has sometimes been 
adversely criticised, is by many said to have been due to his having heard Tiberius 
say to turn, m a dream : " Why linger, Caius, when the same death by which I 
perished is before thee, likewise? "—Ck. De Div. 1, 26. 



Page 96 CAIUS GRACCHUS Act III 

Gracch.: 

My brother: ye recall him? Oh, ye recall! 
That sweet, that gentle presence; he whose love 
For Rome, and Rome's oppressed, gushed 

from a source 
Exhaustion served but to renew tenfold! 
Forgive these tears — 

Pleb.: [sobbing] 

They honor thee! 
Cit.: [sobbing] 

And us — 
Men! Weep! Weep for that loss! 



Pleb.: 
Gracch.: 

Voices: 
Gracch.: 

at: 

Pkb.: 

Cit: 
Pkb.: 
Voices: 
Gracch.: 



Yea, such a loss 



Him, him, who lived to serve you, they assailed 
With the phantastic tale he sought a crown. 
That lie — ^that monstrous lie — 

A lie! A lie! 

The lie they '11 find for me, — what man shall 

say? 
But they will find it! 

Let them find ! Vain find ! 

The gods themselves can never shake our 
faith! 

We're wiser now ! We're not so simple-brained ! 

We know thee, Gracchus! 

Aye, we do! We do! 

What comes, will come. But still, before they 

rise 
To take your votes on those most needful laws 



Act III CAIUS GRACCHUS Page 97 

Which they now seek to wipe from off the 

scrolls, 
I pray you : let me endow your brains with 
judgment. 

[Enter Drusus] 
Many Voices: 

Hail! Hail! 

Gracch.: [to Fulvius] 

Whom do they cheer? 

Fulv.: \lo Gracchus] 

'T is Drusus' self who 's here. 
Gracch.: [to Fulvius] 

He hath befooled them, quite. 

Fulv.: \to Gracchus] 

And will, still more. 
Gracch.: 

The Rubrian law must stay ! 
Cit.: 

Pleb. 

at.: 



Aye, that it shall! 

What Gracchus wills is right! 

It is for me! 
What say ye, comrades? 

Noble Gracchus, hail ! 
We '11 stay with thee till death! 



Pleb.: 

Voices: 

Till death! Till death! 
Gracch.: [to Fulvius] 

The gods be praised! They stand! Their wills 
are firm ! 

Fulv.: [to Gracchus] 

I '11 tie the knot securely while I may. 
[to crowd] 

Now ye who hold with Gracchus in this hour, 



Page 98 CAIUS GRACCHUS Act III 

And will to live, or die, as he deems right. 
Raise up your hands and shout ! 

Crowd: [all raising hands] 

We'Udie with thee! 
Gracch.: 

My comrades — ^honest Romans — ^ye all know 

well 
The quality of my regard for those who toil. 
But now, I thank you more for this, your gift 
That ye 've so freely given, which, indeed. 
Hath made me very rich. 

Pleb.: [to citizen] 

I had been told 
He was not rich. 
Cit.: [to pleb.] 

'T is but a way he hath 
Of saying that, in sooth, he 's very poor. 

Pleb.: [to citizen] 

Ah yes! That 's it. He is not rich, thou say*st? 

Gracch.: 

Your ears recall that when I came back home 
From stern Sardinia's hard shore, I said 
That I re-entered Rome's half-hostile gates 
A man much poorer than when I had left.* 
Candor compels confession. I was wrong. 

Pleb.: 

What 's this.?» What 's this? 



* At the age of 27, Gracchus served as Quaestor in Sardinia under Orestes. The 
winter weather was severe, and the General demanded of the cities clothing for 
his common soldiers. The citizens appealed to Rome, and the Senate counter- 
manded the requisition. The soldiers suffered greatly. Gracchus personally solicited 
the towns, and prevailed on their good-will to help the soldiers voluntarily. Also 
Micipsa, King of Sardinia, because of his personal affection for Gracchus, sent to 
the soldiers a large quantity of com. The Senate, taking alarm at this evident 
popularity of the brother of the slain Tiberius, became openly hostile to Gracchus. 
The latter immediately came back to Rome, and faced his enemies. He then made 
the following statement, quoted by Plutarch : " He was the only man who went out 
with a full 'purse, and returned ivith an empty one; while others, after having drunk the 
wine they carried out, brought back the vessels filled uiith gold and silver." 



Act III CAIUS GRACCHUS Page 99 

Gracch.: 

I was, indeed, a poorer man in purse. 
But when I think of all the fair repute. 
And precious honor,* and the trustful love 
I 'd won of you, my honest Roman men — 



Voices: 

Pleb.: 
Gracch.: 



Aye, that thou didst! 

We love thee well! 

Art ours! 

But hast no cheer, lord, for the Roman nobles? 

I do not love those noble, nor those high. 
Whose titles rest on aught but service which 
They have themselves done to their fellow- 
men. 
For which some nice distinctions, granted by 
The people's instant will, may point them out 
As truly great, in act, in spirit, and in worth. 
My soul goes sick at sight of those sleek rogues 
Who claim the right, by virtue of mere gold, 
Or of some station herited, or gained by 

strength 
Of cunning, or of trafficking, or guile. 
To strut about, the masters of our people 

and our state. 
They are our enemies — those keen-eyed men,** 
Whose hands are soft, e'en as their hearts are 

hard. 
And from whose nimble brains flow all our woes. 
Beneath their purple-bordered robes I spy 
Men who, when others went to fight, and die 
For Roman thought, and Roman law's wide 

sway. 
Themselves, or through their factors, or their 

furtive kin. 
Made profits on the corn our soldiers parched. 



*Aulus Gellius. XI ; 10. See. also, English Hist. Rev., Vol. 20, p. 433. 
** Compare Lysias' Oration agaiost the grain dealers. Pars. 14, 15. 



Page 100 CAIUS GRACCHUS Act III 

And profits on our arms, and on our shields; 
Made profits, profits, profits, on each thing 
That we, the fighting men, or wore, or ate, 
Or used to bleed the enemy. And these, 
Who profited while others lost — aye — lost 
Their hands, their feet, their eyes, their very 

lives, — 
Now shamelessly display their ghoulish pick- 
ings 
In chariots, in robes, in wondrous spots 
Made beautiful for their abodes, and brand us 
Low traitors, who assail their stealings. For me. 
When any maid sprung of such loins I see. 
Go mincing by, in all her trappery, 
Of precious stuffs, and jewels gleaming out. 
Attended by her slaves, and guards, and lovers, 
And nosing in the air a state more high 
Than that of any sweating workman's chit, 
My bile flows hot: I 'd grasp her glistening 

hair, 
And strip her naked, and, with spiked scourge, 
I 'd whip her through this Forum, loudly cry- 
ing: 
" Take off! Thou spawn of Profit! Take them 

off! 
There 's blood on them, and rotten corpses 

peep 
From every fold of thy rich-laid attire! 
These jewels are the eyes of many dead, 
Who clutter battlefields; these rarest scents, 
That flow from thee, are pregnant with the 

stink 
Of countless slaughtered, who gave all for 

naught. 
While those whose name thou bearest stayed 

behind. 
And gathered all for naught. Thou Vampire 

Thing! 
Thou art a fearful growth from bleaching 
skulls ! 



Act III CAIUS GRACCHUS Page 101 

And all the blood that tinges thy lips red. 
Thy sire hath lapped beside the whitening 

dead! 
'T is the blood of hungry babes who Ve wailed 

and died, 
Of starving mothers, whose wet breasts have 

dried. 
Of meager men whose pulsing hearts he 'th 

squeezed 
For those rich drops that for thine heart 

he 'th seized ! 
Away with thee, thou filthy womb of harpy 

broods! '* 
Thus would I cry and do! But law says: 

nay — 'tis wrong. 
And law must ever rule, however hard its 

words. 
But O, my kinsmen, I would see the day 
When every putrid swine who boasts of gold 
Stored up by usury, or heritage. 
Or huckster's lore, or other lie device, 
Be shunned by men, be barred from every 

shrine. 
And have his brow seared with his darhng 

marking : 
The signium " Profit," which, when decent 

folk but see, 
They may shriek out in curdling horror — 

and flee! 



Drus.: 



Gracch. : 



So thou, my frenzied friend, wouldst take the 

store 
From him who hath it, as the fruit of thrift, 
Or hard endeavor, or adventure staked, — 
And give it to the sloth, to waste at will.? 
Such is thy traitorous driveling patter still .f* 

Proclaim thee imbecile, cold heart that feeds 
A trifling, shallow brain, which ever tends 
Adroitly to the wily frauds and schemings, 



Page 102 CAIUS GRACCHUS 



Act III 



Voices: 
Gracch.. 



Pleb.: 
Gracch.: 



Pleb.: 

at: 



Pleb. 



But not at all to ordered thoughts of state. 
Rome once had kings; would ye have kings 
here now? 

No! No! 

Yet was it said that kingly might should rest 
In one firm hand, and that if placed, in parts, 
Among the citizens, as it is now, — 
If each were called t' account for power used, 
And sternly punished for each power abused, — 
There would ensue disorder, and a swirl 
Of ceaseless riot, slaughter, civil warring. 
But was it so? 

The gods bear witness: no! 

Ye took the power from one man, as his right. 
And placed it with many, as a passing trust; 
And this ye Ve found more healthy, and more 

good. 
Thus would I do with private riches, friends. 
I care not for the luxuries, nor lusts. 
Of private men, that gold may buy or sate. 
These soon exhaust the pampered sensual flesh. 
And work their vengeance on their users' 

softened selves. 
But, private hoard is private empire; this 
I hold to be such wholly baneful danger, 
I deem a king less to be feared than him 
Who, sitting in his treasure room, can dole 
To this one this, and that one that, of wealth, 
And, through such purchase, be thrice king 

by stealth! 

That 's plain! That 's very plain! 



Right! Right! 



Go on! 



Act III CAIUS GRACCHUS Page 103 

Voices: 

Go on! Go on! 

Gracch.: 

These private emperors within our gates 
Are our pernicious peril. By th* eternal Fates, 
I would so order it, that he who hath 
More riches than he needs for his own keeping. 
Give strict accounting, to the meanest coin, 
Of all its uses, as of rule employed. 
That bears the burden of a likely ill to all: 
So that no man be master of his fellows. 
Except as is well-known, and set to him. 
I care not, citizens, what final place 
The law points out for such men's shining 

heaps; 
Or be it showered in the Forum here — 



Voices: 
Gracch.: 



So! So! Aye, aye! Bring on! We '11 have it now! 

[Laughter] 



Or be it buried in the moving sea — 
Voices: 

No! No! That were not right! That were a loss! 
[Groans] 
Gracch.: 

So that no man be emperor at will. 

With right to pass his sceptre, with his till! 
Voices: 

No emperors ! 

Say'st well! 

We 're one with thee! 

No private emperors ! 

No secret kings! 
Gracch.: 

I seek to limit every private dower. 

When 't is no more reward, but private power. 

Thus would I make the reign of Law complete, 

And banish Anarchy from out our loved state. 
Voices: 

So we! So we! 



Page 104 CAIUS GRACCHUS Act III 

Fulv.: 

Swear that ye will be faithful to our chief; 
And give no heed to those patrician lordUngs, 
Who come, with solemn mien, and strutting 

air. 
To argue you into a cheat, that will 
But make you more enslaved by your own 

shackling: 
The victims of your dullness, and their guile. 



Voices: 



We swear! Gracchus! Gracchus! We swear! 
We swear! 



Fulv.: \to Gracchus] 

They 're firm! They stand unshaken! 
\lo populace] 

We '11 tame these lords ! 
Pleh.: 

We 've had our fill of lords! Who made them 
lords? 
Fulv.: 

Aye, — aptly questioned! Who, and what? 

Pleh.: [aside, to citizen] 

See? See? 
He grasps my sense! He hath a proper mind! 



Fulv.: 



Drus. 



I '11 tell you who the lord is ! 'T is the man 
Who will not Hve on earning, but on gain. 
It is th' eternal pimp! By wile, and cheat, 
He gathers toll wherever he may find it, 
And sports on peopled roads his gay attire, 
His milky-tinted hands, and greenly-leering 

eye. 
Encircled by no carping lines of care. 
It is th' eternal pimp ! 

So, still ye froth, 
And speak most ill of Roma's wise and great, 
As is your wont. But ye, Quirites, know 



Act III CAIUS GRACCHUS Page 105 

That many laws, drawn for your weal, have 

been 
Thought out, devised, enacted and proclaimed 
By our good Senate's favor, in my name, that 

are 
Twice ten times more assuasive of your wants 
Than Gracchus' laws. Yet Gracchus cries his 

petty 
And bootless meed, as if it were the whole 
Of bounteousness and service, to yourselves, 
That Rome hath ever witnessed, or shall see. 

Voices: [one] 

Ho, Drusus, art our friend ! 
[another] 

Thou fraud! Thou fraud! 



Pleb.: 

at: 

Gracch. 



Ho, Gracchus ! What of Fannius ! 'T was thou 
Stood sponsor for him! 

Speak of Drusus, too! 

I asked your votes for that which Fannius 

played he was; 
I curse what Fannius is! This Drusus' laws 
Are for your minds' confusion, not your use; 
They 're for the days of voting, not for courts. 
And each of them at very birth aborts. 
One simple law, if honestly applied, 
Is worth a code, the force of which 's denied.* 
[Drusus makes motion of protest] 

Ha, ha — that hits ! 

That bores through his thick skin! 

Our Caius knows the soft-spots of his hide! 

* " . . but the Senate well knew that passing laws, and carrying them out, were 
two very different things. . . ." The Roman Republic, HeUland, Vol. II. See. 732. 



at: 

Pleh.. 

at: 



PAGE106 CAIUS GRACCHUS 



Act III 



Pleb.: [aside, to citizen] 

I love these voting days, when every haughty 

lord 
Must take our common wit, to earn our votes* 

reward. 



Voices: 
Gracch.: 



Drus.: 



Gracch. 



Speak on! Speak on! Speak on! 



man 



I shall. This 
Is neither of, nor for you; not at all. 
He 's but a vision, flashed in dazzling rays, 
To blind your eyes, the while ye 're neatly 

plundered. 
Who are his friends.'* Who vouches for his 

deeds .?* 
Who speaks on his behalf.'* Who is it points 

him out. 
As one to follow? 'T is the swindling lordly; 
For which he is an evil, and a curse! 
For, even were he true, as he is false, 
And even were he earnest, as he 's not. 
Yet would his truth, and earnestness, both die. 
Because of those with whom he loves to lie. 
This is a law of nature, and of man: 
The dog that runs with wolves, itself grows 

wolf. 

And thou, my bleating lamb, what is thy hope? 
If all our gods be broken, and our great 
Made small, how will whatever is thy wish be 
served? 

I wish to see a world that 's ruled by Law, 
Which no debauching finger can approach! 
I wish to see a world that 's free of guile: 
A world no more a market-place, but made 
A vineyard, and a garden, and a school. 
I wish to see men's eyes freed of that sly. 
That mean, that shrewd, that knowing, cun- 
ning gleam 



Act III CAIUS GRACCHUS Page 107 

Which now proclaims to all abroad the crea- 
ture 
Who hath attained the hideous shame that 's 

called success. 
I wish to see men strive for finer ends 
Than those of furtive gain, of secret rule, 
Or dull and stupid labor for a crust! 
I wish to see the worthy hour arrive 
When flaunting show will be disgrace, when all 
Must do their measured doles of toil for food, 

for roof. 
For everything of need, but none at all of spoil, 
And leave some time for every man to raise 
His eyes from trough, or furrow, and to live 
With thought, with love, with nature, with the 
gods! 

Drus.: [mockingly] 

And when all this hath come, — what shalt 
thou gain? 
Gracch.: 

What shall I gain? What does the bard, who 

sings 
His song in lone, waste wilds; the poet when 
He fashions out his measure; or when first 
She gazes on her infant, what 's the gain 
The mother hath of all her rending pains? 
What is their gain? What mine? A dream made 

true; 
A something yearning, straining, here, within, 
That 's brought to being. Just a dream made 

true 

[Shouts by crowd] 
Pleb.: 

Thou noble Gracchus! 

at: 

Tell us how to vote! 
Gracch.: 

This moment is most solemn : both for you, 
Who are the fife and striving of to-day. 



Page 108 CAIUS GRACCHUS Act III 

And those who are to draw their sorrows from 

your loins. 
Give heed, that I may tell you in small words 
Each detail of what 's staked, and what 's to 

lose — 

[Movement in crowd — murmur] 

[aside, to Fulvius] 
What 's there? 

Fulv.: [aside, to Gracchus] 

It is some show — I can not tell — 
Gracch.: 

This is a solemn moment, O my friends — 

[Murmur, and movement in crowd, in- 
crease] 

Gracch.: [aside, to Fulvius] 

I 've lost them, quite. What 's happened? Canst 
thou see? 

Fulv.: [aside, to Gracchus] 

Aye, now I do. It is the courtesan 

Most noted in all Rome : — she passeth by — 

[Lydia, in litter, attended by guards, 
is carried across rear of stage] 

Gracch.: [aside, to Fulvius] 

And 't is for this they leave me! Ah, ye gods — 

Fulv.: [aside, to Gracchus] 

'T is but the people's way. Strike! Win them 
back! 

Gracch.: [aside, to Fulvius] 

Let be. Let be. Mark Drusus, there, who 

stands. 
And darkly smiles. There 's that within his eye 
Speaks gloating threat. 
Drus.: 

The augurs come! The priests! 



Act III CAIUS GRACCHUS Page 109 

at: 

The Pontifex! The augurs! 
Pleh,: 

Silence! Silence! 
[Enter Pontifex, augurs] 
Gracch.: 

Friends, bend respectful heads to these, our 
priests. 

Cit.: \to pleb.] 

He 's reverent, then? 

Pleb.: [to citizen] 

That Gracchus is. 
Pont.: 

This way ! 
Let him who brings the entrails pass this way! 

[Calpio, half-hooded, elbows his way 
through crowd] 



Cit.: 

Calp.: 
Pleb.: 



Art rough, my friend! Wherefore this jostling 
haste? 

Mine eyes would feast on Gracchus, closer to. 

Good wish! Pass on! Pass up! 

[Calpio mounts steps, and stands near 
Gracchus, who, with Fulvius, Phil- 
OCRATES, and Portinus, has retired to 
side of Rostra, near steps] 

Thelictor! Way! 
Make way ! The sacred signs ! 

[Enter Antyllius, bearing entrails] 

Phil.: [to Gracchus] 

Sir — something 's strange. 
AntylHus struts as hctor! 



Voice: 



Page 110 CAIUS GRACCHUS Act III 

Graxich.: 

Ha! 

[Antyllius pauses, hesitates; Drusus 
makes a slight motion of hand toward 
Gracchus] 
PoH.: 

Antyllius! Thou spy! 
Antyll.: 

Thou puhng slave! 
[Crowds near Gracchus; pushes him 
with free arm] 

Make way, ye factious knaves, for honest men! 
Pmt.: 

Thou traitor! Traitor! Spy! Hell's furies! Spy! 

Fulv.: \to Antyllius] 
Dost dare? 

Phil.: [pushes Antyllius away] 

Thou worthless thing! For shame! 

Gracch.: [stretches arm toward Fulvius and Philocrates] 

Let be! 

Calp.: [standing between, and behind, Gracchus and Phi- 
locrates, stabs Antyllius in throat] 

Thou dog who dares flout Caius Gracchus — 
die! 

[Antyllius falls; Calpio drops stylus, 
and mingles with crowd] 

Gracch.: 

Help! Help! O bloody deed! Help! Romans, 
help! 
Voices: 

Ho ! Stop him! Murder! Murder! Murder! Ho! 

Drus.: [points to Gracchus] 

Thou wretched murderer! Hopest thou to 

screen 
Thy wilful crime behind an anxious mien? 



Act III CAIUS GRACCHUS Page 111 

Pleb.: 

Who slew him? Didst thou see? 

at: 

No, I did not. 
It came so swiftly — 

Gracch.: 

Paltry jackal, what? 
Dost dare accuse my hands? 

Drus.: 

That 's what I do. 
And cry that Gracchus this poor hctor slew! 

Gracch.: 

cursed creature! 

Cit: 

It was Gracchus then? 

Pleb.: 

Didst see? 'T was Drusus saw him — didst 
thou see? 

Drus.: [pointing to Gracchus] 

Here stands th' assassin, known of gods and men! 

Voices: 

It was not Gracchus! 

No, it was his man! 
Where is he? 

Gone — he 's gone! 

Who was it? 
See! It was a stouter man! 

A thinner! 

1 saw him run! 

'T was Gracchus! 

Fulv.: 

It is a plot! Friends! Friends! Quick! Form a 

guard 
To save your Gracchus! 



Page 112 CAIUS GRACCHUS Act III 

at: 



Pleb.: 



at: 

Pleb.: 

Pont: 
aowd: 



Come! Let 's run to aid! 

But Gracchus slew the lictor — ^yea — I saw — 
With mine own eyes — I saw his arm sweep wide — 
I '11 almost vow I saw him speed the blow! 
Indeed, it must be he, the guilty wretch! 
To slay a holy messenger! Stay here! 
For him I gave away ten weighty silver coins ! 

Say'st so? Didst see? Didst see? 



Didst see thyself — 
And Drusus saith 'tis so, — so it must be! 



O sacrilege! Ye sacred gods — forgive! 



O sacrilege! 

Fulv.: [to Gracchus] 

The day is lost. Now flee! 

Gracch.: 

Right must be heard! My friends! Attend my 
voice! 

Pkb,: 

Away, thou bloody man! Away! Away! 

Voices: 

Sacrilege! Sacrilege! 

Gracch.: 

But 't is a plot, my friends, a monstrous plot! 

Drus.: 

A plot? A plot? Is this 

[Raises body of Antyllius] 



Act III CAIUS GRACCHUS Page 113 

limp man a plot? 
Go bawl that word to ears more long than ours ! 
A plot? And did we plot to kill our guard? 
Out, basest trickster! Enemy of Rome! 
Too long have Romans suffered thy lax tongue 
To wag, and flout our noblest, and our highest! 
Now, Roman men, forget that there are rich. 
That some are poor, and some are great, and 

some 
Are born to humbler station. For, all men 
Are useful in their several ways, and each 
Receives what 's justly due him in his fated 

place. 
Here, in the presence of this hateful crime. 
We stand as Romans, first. Here, we lay by 
Our private jealousies, and petty envies. 
That far too much have stirred our common 

lives, 
Lashed on to frothing fury by this low 
And treacherous stabber of a man unarmed. 
Who walked on sacred mission. I saw the deed 
With these two eyes. And so did you, with 

yours? 

We did! We did! O bloody sacrilege! 

What good to cry, the hand that threw the steel 
Was not this Gracchus' own? How? Were it so. 
Yet was it nothing other than his will 
That urged its blow. And so, 't was Gracchus' 

hand 
That wrought this fearsome crime. For which 

I say to you: 
'T was Caius Gracchus' deed ! Who says me 

nay? 

Not I ! Not I ! Here 's one who 's not misled ! 
I 'm a respectable, — I am a loyal man! 



Voices: 
Drus.: 



Pleb.: 
Fulv.: 



Thou ratty, crawling fool! 



Page114 CAIUS GRACCHUS Act III 

at: 

Then^I 'm one, too! 
No more ! No more of your seditious bawling, 
Ye anarchistic rogues ! 

Drus.: 

Good citizens! 
I honor you! Such is the wondrous stuff 
Of which the sturdy, loyal Roman 's made ! 
Say — now — what shall be done with this red 

felon, 
This radical, anarchic fount of hate? 

Gracch.: 

Hear ! Hear me, friends ! Forego this dastard's 

wiles ! 
A boldly ventured lie stands half a truth. 
Which, oft repeated, puts the last to rout. 
And rears its loathsome visage in her place. 
But, O, my friends, ye will not be deceived? 

Drus.: 

Thou infamous! Thou rascal! So, wouldst dare 
To take the word* from me, while I am speak- 
ing 
To Roma's tribes as Tribune? Thus, again, 
Imposest traitorous crime on mortal crime! 
Be silent, thou! 

Voices :\ [one] 

The Rock! The Rock! 
[another] 

Nay ! Gracchus is our chief ! 
[another] 

I did not see him do it! 
[another] 

He 's our friend ! 



* It was forbidden to interfere with a Tribune who was addressing the populace. 
It seems to be established that when Gracchus attempted to defend himself, he 
was accused of this impropriety. 



Act III CAIUS GRACCHUS Page 115 

Drus.: 

And are there any here so villainous. 

As still to call this creature friend? How now? 

A lie? And is this death a lie? This piteous 

blood 
That stains the Rostra's floor, — is that a lie? 
Consider ye this low-laid, weltering corpse. 
Of our loved Consul's hctor! .... 
He served the Gracchus yesterday. To-day, 
Impelled to fiery fury at the sight 
Of that poor soldier in an honest habit, 
This Gracchus slew him, or ordered slain, as 

ye 've all seen. 
For, he 's a man of passion, as ye know — 
The partner of this red-eyed Fulvius — 
A ranting, foaming creature, stabbed and 

lashed 
To violence by his own wild haranguing. 
Ye 've seen him here, — ye see him now, — 

ablaze 
With scarce impounded anger, for which 

quality 
He hath been titled Cleon by learned men 
Who know that Grecian braggart's style. But 

now. 
Inspired by that same mood to felony. 
He dares deny the action of his will: 
An act so fearsome, that the very gods, aghast. 
Shout down their curses, shrieking: " Sacri- 
lege! " 

[Makes sign to Pontifex] 



Pont: 



Augurs: 



Sacrilege! 

[Makes sign to Augurs] 



Sacrilege 



Voices from distance: [growing louder] 

Sacrilege! Sacrilege! 



Page 116 CAIUS GRACCHUS Act III 

[Enter Opimius, Fannius, Rutilius, 
and procession of Senators,* tearing 
their cloaks, wringing their hands, etc., 
crying: '^Sacrilege!" They form a circle 
around body of Antyllius, showing 
signs of grief, raising hands upward 
in gestures of adoration, etc.] 



Fulv.: 
Pleh.: 



Drus. 



Ho — ho! Th' Esquilian vultures flock! 

Be still! 



Gracch.: [asides to Fulvius] 

Our pious patriots ! Alas, poor Rome ! 



Ye Roman men : good citizens, — the staff 
Upon whose sturdy frame is built the thing 
That is the state of Rome: ye see in grief 
The Roman Senate — noblemen who are 
Patrician since the founding of our city — 
Do homage to the trunk of this that was 
A common soldier — Hke yourselves — a man 
Of humble blood. Yet here they waste in 

tears — 
These gracious Senators. And why.f^ Because 
They are your Fathers, these, our god- 
marked men — 
Who sit in yonder Senate House to plan 
Not for themselves : ah, no — ^f or you, for you — 
For you and yours: these, in whose tender 

hearts 
There 's naught but deep concern for what is 

best. 
Not for just one, or two, or any part 
Of Rome, but for its various, cognate, glorious 
whole ! 



* " The Consul assembled the Senate, and while he was addressing them within, 
others exposed the corpse of Antyllius, naked on a bier without, and, as it had been 
previously concerted, carried it through the Forum to the Senate House, making 
loud acclamations all the way. Opimius knew the whole farce; but pretended to be 
much surprised. The Senate went out, and planting themselves about the corpse, 
expressed their grief and indignation, as if some dreadful misfortune had befallen 
them." — Plutarch. 



Act III CAIUS GRACCHUS Page 117 

"A plot!" this Gracchus says, "a plot!" 
Now gaze! 

And are these streaming tears a plot? These 
forms 

That shake with griping anguish for this awe- 
some crime? 

And are our priests in plot? And this, our good 

Chief Priest? Our Judges? And om* Consul, too? 

Come, think! Did all of these red-buskined 
men. 

Cloaked by the night, meet in some secret 
closet, 

There to plan out this crime, and these sharp 
cries 

Of horror, and these bitter tears, as well? 

What, then? Do we mislead you ? Are ye fools? 

Opim.: [asidey to Drusus] 

Dost tell the tale so well, they will suspect ! 

Drus.: [aside, to Opimius] 

Their pimply brains take fire; their fervor 

glows! 
Their chests sweD out: they 're patriots, — 

patriots — all! 
I '11 make them pull the rope that strangles 

them! 
I '11 prove to them what was could not have 

been, 
And show the Gracchan wailings cheap, and 

mean! 

Fann.: [aside, to Rutilius] 

Now earn thy little maid with briny speech! 

Rut.: 

O woful sight! To view a faithful man 
So cruelly laid low ! Come closer, closer 
Good citizens: wrap this silken cloak about 
These poor remains. Gently ! Treat them with 
respect,' 



Page 118 CAIUS GRACCHUS Act III 

Pleb.: 

Thou noble, generous youth ! 
Cit.: 

O kindly heart! 

Pleb.: [to citizen] 

Let us wail with them, so that we '11 be linked 
With all these great ones, by the common grief. 

Rut.: [aside f to soldier] 

Burn wind to this AntyUius' home. Bring, 

thence. 
His daughter to my house. If any hinder, 
Say Lord Fannius wills ! Run ! Curse thee ! Run ! 
Sold.: 

Obeyed. 
[Exit soldier] 

Rut.: [aside] 

O pleasant day! Bright gods! I thank you all! 

[Turns to crowd] 
Sacrilege! 



Drus.: 
Pleb.: 

at: 

Pleb.: 
Fulv.: 

Drus.: 
Crowd: 
Pleb.: 



A plot, he says — come, who beheves that tale.^ 
Are any here so vile? Is one so dull? 

Plots! Ha! 

Conspiracies! What dreams! 

Dreams? Lies! 

Thou shifty rogue! I say it was a plot. 
And that thy brain itself planned out this 
stroke! 

Now, there is humor! Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha! 

Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! 

Kill, kill the wretch! 



Act III CAIUS GRACCHUS Page 119 

Old Worn.: [struggles through crowd; ascends rostra] 

Way! Way for me! Ye Romans! Give me way! 
Plebeian men! To Hades with the gods! 
To Hades with the priests, the gold-blown 

great! 
They hate you all! They lie! They 're hars! 

Liars ! 
Be loyal to yourselves, your sons, your blood! 
The same as they are loyal to themselves, 

their own! 
Here 's he who 's for you — Gracchus — stand 

by him! 
He '11 save you all, as he will save my boy ! 
Hear but your needs, and not their clever talk! 
Hear only Gracchus! Curse the priests, the 

high ones! 
The oily, purring priests, these cheating knaves ! 
They sell you! Ye 're their wares! They dupe 
you, all! 
Gracch.: 

Good mother, cease — 
Pont.: 

O horror! Blasphemy! 
Pkb.: 

She 's mad! She 'th cursed the gods! 
Old Worn,: 

My boy! My boy! 
Pont.: 

Drus. 



Ho! Take her off ! 

[Old woman is seized and dragged ofiF. 



Ye 've heard this frightful blasphemy, good 

men: 
Ye 've seen this comedy, to stir you up 
To deeds of violence, by making use 
Of that mad, mouthing mother of a thief! 
Voices: [one] 

Shame! Shame! 
[another] 

The mother of a thief! O shame! 



Page 120 CAIUS GRACCHUS Act III 

Drus.: 

Come, — who is left that is for Gracchus now? 
Who is against the gods? Who deems this deed 
Of wanton murder good? Speak, man! Speak, 

many! 
Let us behold such worthless citizens! 



PUh,: 

at: 

Drus.: 
Opim.: 
Fulv.: 



The law! The law for Gracchus! 

Seize him, then! 
Attend, O Consul! Heed the commons' call! 
Do ye surrender to the law's just course? 



We choose patrician's law — the law of might! 
[to Gracchus] 

And art not armed ! 

Port.: [produces Gracchus' sword from beneath his cloak.] 
I 've brought the master's sword. 
Fulv.: [takes sword] 

Thou noble! Thanks! 

[Tenders sword to Gracchus] 

Here, swing this friendly pin! 
Gracch.: [sweeps weapon aside] 

What? Shall the father plunge the mortal 

steel 
Into the bowels of his erring child? 
I bring not Death, but Truth, to these gone 
wild. 

[FuLVius returns sword to Portinus] 



Phil: 
Opim.: 



I '11 be thy shield, my master! Forward, we! 
By Hercules! My sword is good for three! 

Ho, aediles! Call the guard! Ho! Seize these 
men! 



Act III CAIUS GRACCHUS Page 121 

Fulv.: 

Who seizes me grasps lightning! Way, ye fools! 

Make way! Come, Gracchus! To the Aventine! 
Phil: 

Make way, ye asses' brothers! Ho! Make way! 

[Holds out his sword] 
Here Pluto rides. Wouldst stay him? Ha, 
there, way! 

[FuLvius, Philocrates, Gracchus 
and PoRTiNUS make their way through 
the crowd] 
Gracch.: 

O fatal hour! 

Opim., Drus., Pont, Crowd: 

Sacrilege! Seize them! Seize them! 

Curtain 



ACT IV 

Section of Triclinium in Fannius' Palace 

[The setting is in the form of an " L," 
of which the front constitutes the 
lower member. 

Necessary to the action: an embra- 
sure, with outward fenestration, and 
a hanging that partly screens the 
embrasure from the main setting. 

Curtain discloses revel in progress] 

Drus.: [throws dice] 

A Jupiter! No good! Septimuleius : — throw! 

Sept.: [throws dice] 

A dog !* Still worse! Throw thou, Rutilius — 
throw! 

Rut.: [throws dice] 

A Venus! There! I win! 
Drus.: 

As is most meet; 

So art thou King of Wine** at thine own feast! 
Rut.: 

Now let my father's attics rain their jugs! 

Drink! Drink! And who to any cup saith "nay," 

Is sealed a poor plebeian thing this day! 

[Exit Septimuleius to other part 
of triclinium. Laughter by revelers. 
Shrieks, clash of arms, heard outside] 



* Every throw of the dice had a special name. The " canis " was the lowest throw, 
the " Venus " the highest. 

** The " Arbiter Bibendi " was chosen by throwing the dice ; and he directed the 
course of the feast. 



Page 124 CAIUS GRACCHUS Act IV 

Drus.: 

There *s music for you ! How our serving braves 
Draw blood from them: those star-eyed 

promise-spillers 
Who yesterday bawled of the rights of man, 
And other gibberish of that same strain. 
[Shrieks, groans, thuds, outside] 
Kill! Kill! O splendid, heartening, joyous sight! 
More Massic, slaves! More wine! A glorious 
night! 

Rut: 

By Bacchus ! I thirst more for maid than grape. 
She tarries, while mine arms ache with desire, 
And all my being hungers for the feel 
Of that divine young body. Speed thee, maid! 

Fann.: [without] 

We give no terms to rebels ! 

Boyish Voice: [without] 

But, sir — 
Fann,: [without] 

Go! 
[Enter Fannius] 
I\,eveleTS * 

Ho! Fannius! Ho! Victor! Ho! Hail! Ho! 

Fann.: [to Rutilius] 

Hath Calpio yet horned.^ 
Rut.: 

Not since this morn. 

[Shrieks, clash of arms outside. Fan- 
nius listens] 

It is a welcome noise? 
Fann.: 

Thou say'st .... But now, 

I wait a singular arrival, son. 
Rut.: 

The Gracchus .f^ 



Act IV CAIUS GRACCHUS Page 125 

Fann.: 



Rut: 



Fann: 



No — not quite. The Gracchus' wife. 

Ha, father — art of us! And thou wilt join 
Our merry feast, when hast thy longed-for 
mistress .f' 

I '11 play the satyr, and recall this much 
Too aging frame to youth, with wine and wench. 



Those memories linger, beautiful, but now, 
I am for firmer meat, that hath not felt 
The impress of so many questing hands. 

Pooh! Pleasure-giving is an art, old goat. 
That is not learnt in one man's arms alone. 

The mellow wine is tasteful to the young, 
But aged palates crave a draft more strong. 
And seek the tickle of a rawer juice 
To send a thrill through nerves bent on disuse. 

I '11 joy with thee, adored, to stay the twinges 
Of hunger for another. 

[Embraces Lydia, and reclines with 

her on couch] 

Come, Lord of Drinks, command the merry 

wave 
To raise us on its crest, and float us ofiP! 

Wine! More amphorae, lead-footed sculUons! 
Wine! 

Here 's bliss ! Shalt love two fair ones in one 
night ! 

[Laughter and applause by revelers] 



Page 126 CAIUS GRACCHUS Act IV 

Rut: 



Drus.: 
Rut.: 
Drus.: 
Rut: 



It were a wondrous thing — could it be done — 
To love two separate maidens, just as one. 
That 's thought to stir a rhymster to pen verse! 

Then be the poet! 

Pindus has known worse. 

Rutilius sings! Give audience to his Muse! 

Your patience, and your ears, I '11 now abuse. 

[Chants] 
What a pity. 
When a pretty 

Maid I press within mine arms, 
I can't smother 
Still another. 
With my kisses 'mid her charms. 

Chloe's passion 

Stirs, in fashion 

Most subhme, but Phyllis' eyes, 

Make me quiver. 

Burn and shiver. 

With an ever new surprise. 

Fain I 'd blend them. 

And both send them, 

Thrillingly, through limbs and brain; 

But another 

I can't smother, 

While one maid in love I strain! 

[Screams, laughter, shouts, by revelers. 
Enter soldier, with Helia. Rutilius 
springs from couch] 

Two doves for thee, fair Venus ! Here 's my maid ! 

[Drusus joins Lydia] 



Act IV CAIUS GRACCHUS Page 127 

Sold.: 

My sword had failed, had not thy name pre- 
vailed. 



Helia: 
Rut: 
Helia: 
Rut: 



Protect me, Dian! 

Sweet — be not afraid! 
Have pity, lord! 



I '11 give thee more: my love! 
Here 's an earnest! 

[Seizes Helia] 

My kiss ! I '11 kiss thine apples next ! 
Helia: [struggles] 

Portinus! Father! Spare me! Spare me! Oh! 
Drus.: 

I fear 't will take some hate to love this maid. 
Lyd.: 

Look! See him labor with this latest toy. 
The while he spurns soft-handed proffered joy! 
My gorge turns somersaults. I go to seek more 
wine. 

[Exit Lydia to other part of triclinium] 
Sept: [shouts] 

King of theBumpers — chaste ! Thy crown awaits ! 
Come ! Throw wide open Revel's crimson gates ! 

Rut: [to soldier] 

Take her to my small room. Await commands. 

[Soldier carries Helia away] 
Good guests — your liege makes answer to 
your call! 
[aside] 

Though rather would he say " good-night " to 
all. 

[Exit RuTiLius to other portion of 
triclinium. Calpio and soldier, with 
LiciNiA, appear in doorway. Shrieks, 
clash of arms outside] 



PAGE128 CAIUS GRACCHUS Act IV 

Fann.: 

The spoils of war come fast; here 's booty 

worth 
A prince's striving. So, again, I win! 
Ho, soldiers, bring the lady here, within! 



Lie: 

Fann.: 

Lie: 
Fann.: 

Calf.: 



Fann.: 
Calp.: 



What dost thou seek to gain by this assault? 

Thyself, dear lady, who, to stay unharmed, 
While Slaughter stalks, blood-drippingly, 

abroad, 
Shalt bargain for thy life with passion's kisses. 

When Caius swoops, in vengeance, in the morn, 
On Rome's gold-fingered ravishers, base hound, 
Shalt know the kiss of steel in thy loose paunch ! 

Thy heated mien but kindles me the more. 
[to Calpio] 
Speak, Calpio! What news comes of that man? 
When will he haste to claim his loving spouse? 

Left single by the common horde, as one 
Who broadly shows the plague-signs on his 

face. 
The Gracchus fled, this even, from Selene's 

shrine 
And now, like some doomed beast, beset, and 

chased 
By men-at-arms, skulks within the Furies' 

Grove, 
Where soon he yields — or dies. 

And did he naught to earn 
His passage to his hovel, and his wife? 

He shed some tears upon the plate whereon 

His father's form is imaged in hard bronze. 

Which moved the stolid statue not at all. 

[Laughter by revelers] 



Act IV CAIUS GRACCHUS Page 129 

Drus.: 

O frigid sire! 
Fann.: 

Hast heard! Thou art my prize! 
[Seizes Licinia] 
Now earn thy Hfe with all the wiles of love! 

Lie: [struggles] 

Oh, Caius! Gods! 

[Strikes him in face] 



Drus.: 

Fann.: 

Lie: 



Guard: 
Fann.: 



That was a lusty blow. 

Thou! . . . Thou! ... I '11 have thee, whether 
wilt, or no! 

I in thine arms.? When Ixion held the clouds, 
That union bred the centaurs' frightful forms. 
But if thy body but touched mine, I should 

spawn 
Green toads, and hissing serpents, oozing 

slime ! 

[Enter Guard] 

Opimius, Consul, enters in the court, 
The Pontifex, and senators, and more. 



I haste to greet them. But, 't is best the master* 
Of Rome be not persuaded by temptation 
To covet my dame. 
[to soldier] 

Secure this woman. 
And house her, privately, for my return. 

[Exit Fanntds. Soldier ties Licinia; 
places her on couch, in embrasure] 



* To make it possible for the slaughter of Gracchus' friends and followers to go on 
unrestrained the Senate had voted the " Senatus consultum ulfimum," which in 
effect, made Opimms dictator. 



Page 130 CAIUS GRACCHUS Act IV 

Drus.: [aside] 

Like son, like sire: — they 're warriors of the 
couch. 

\to Calpio] 
Thou lovest thy master, Calpio? 
Calp.: 

As a slave should, sir. 
Drus,: 

Thy words are Delphic. 
Calp.: 

My heart is Roman, sir. 

[Drusus waves Calpio away; Calpio 
retreats] 
[aside] 

I 'm in his mind; I wish I were without it. 
This man thinks hurtfuUy: his servile spirit 
Bristles against the serving slave. I '11 hug his 

shadow, 
Until I learn the target of his humor. 

[Exit Calpio. Revelers pass, dancing, 
etc. Enter slave, bearing wine-jug] 



Drus.: 
Slave: 

Drus.: 

Lyd.: 

Drus.: 

Lyd.: 

Drus.: 

Lyd.: 



Hast seen our lady Lydia.^^ 

She comes. 

[Enter Lydia; exit slave] 

Divine ! 

I 'm wearied. 

Shouldst have stayed to see 
The battle 'twixt our host and Gracchus' wife. 

Whose oak.f* 

The issue hes in high suspense. 

That 's much to do for just one novel thrill! 



Act IV CAIUS GRACCHUS Page 131 

Drus.: 

The common drudge for bread, and what small 

pleasures 
The grudging gods may grant them as rare 

treasures 
Men freed from lives so profitless, the while, 
Moil, in their turn, to earn some woman's 

smile. 
Or for new thrills, or some strange means 

to urge 
Their flaccid nerves to quiver and to surge. 
For me — I 'd rather kiss on practised lips, 
And seek my feast of honey where it freely 
drips. 

[Embraces Lydia] 
Come, drink — 

[Shrieks, sound of arms clashing out- 
side] 
Lyd.: [waves aside cup] ■ 

The wine is poor. It hath no savor . . . 

Those plebs die much too loudly 

[Drusus and Lydia struggle as he 
endeavors to force her to drink] 



Drus.: 



Rut: 



Lyd.: 



What! Darest refuse.'* 
Ho, ho, there, King of Bumpers! Sighs and 

gloom ! 
Here 's one who will not drink! Pronounce her 
doom! 

[Laughter, cries of revelers. Enter Ru- 

TILIUS] 

Drink! Drink! And who to any cup saith 

"nay," 
Is sealed a poor plebeian thing this day! 

Plebeian — I? Thou hest, — ^pig-eyed lout! 
I am the most patrician of you all! 
Gaze well at me, if but thy shifty orb 
Can gather in its narrow circle quite 
The meaning of my festive, gleaming whole 



Page 132 CAIUS GRACCHUS Act IV 

These are my hands. Look close! Canst see, 

in anywise. 
The marks of toil on them? No! None! Mine 

arms 
Are shapely, as my form: and my white 

sheathe, 
Is smoother than the rarest silken webs 
The wandering hucksters bring us from the 

fabled lands. 
My brow is as a babe's. My slaves attend 

each whim 
That fancy breeds, before it hath full birth. 
My dwelling, in a garden by a stream. 
Gleams softly, like some jewel in its velvet 

case. 
Not like some common bride am I, — poor 

cheated maid, — 
Who, once conveyed to nuptial joys by torch- 
armed youths. 
Discards her tawny slippers, and her belt, 
Thereafter to Uve on a serf, the sole 
Possession of one man: to earn from him 
The piteous dole of all she craves he deigns 

to give. 
Aye, doth she earn it: or in household tasks. 
Or in forbearance of her master's faults, 
Or on the bed of pain, to bear him squalUng 

heirs. 
Not such my life! For I am highly placed! 
A thousand sweat, that one patrician man 
May have his ease. A score of those who have 
Such thousands, bring their sorted hoards to 

me, 
To earn my measured smiles for but a single 

hour! 
Patrician men are choice in those with whom 
They freely join in privy intercourse; 
Yet am I censor more precise of who 
May pass my ostium, and press my fevered 

couch. 



Act IV CAIUS GRACCHUS Page 133 

The Pontifex, flamines, augurs — aye — 
The Consuls, Praetors, Quaestors and those 

few 
Of magistrates, who boast the chair; but those 
Have sobbed their eager passion on these 

breasts, 
When they have rightly won my favoring nod. 
I stalk abroad disdainful, and my mien 
Is one of high concern for far-off things. 
I voice my love for who may serve my needs 
As doth the candidate patrician, who. 
Out on the Forum, seeks the dangling votes 
Of gaping artisans, and odorous men 
Of dirty trades, whom all his soul and heart 
Abhor, e'en while he woos, with smiling Ups 

and eyes. 
The priests, with whom I join in sprightly 

sport. 
And gay derision of the various gods, 
And goddesses, I greet with solemn poses 
At shrines. The toiling mob, from which I 

spring. 
By common ancestry with all, I loathe. 
I lie to all with equal face. I take 
What is not mine, as favor unto him 
Who 's plundered by me. That is hard to 

learn. 
And if, perchance, a lack-wit, here or there. 
Presumes to bring to bear against me, or 
My ownings, any scribbling in the code, 
Like that of all patricians is my privilege 
To whisper my distress into the ear 
Of some high magistrate, who points, in fat- 

jowled words. 
To the rash suitor, every congruous law. 
Which ever causes me to win, and him, 

— to lose. 
And is not this the final proof that I 
Am goddess of patricians, and their very soul? 
[Laughter, applause, by revelers] 



Page 134 CAIUS GRACCHUS Act IV 

Drus.: 

Hail! Goddess of patricians! Three times hail! 

[Enter Opimius, Fannius, Pontifex, 
Calpio, a number of Senators, etc. 
All, except Opimius, Fannitjs, Pon- 
tifex, and Calpio, join the revelers] 

My very welcome friends : — within these walls 
Find relaxation from the day's events. 



Fann.: 

Opim.: 
Pont: 



Pleb.: 

Fann.: 

Pleb.: 

Fann.: 

Pkb,: 

Fann.: 
Pleb.: 



Thy words are grateful. 

Here is gay repose. 

[Commotion, sounds of arms. Shouts 
of " Halt! Halt! " Enter plebeian, run- 
ning, pursued by armed men. Throws 
himself at Fannius' feet] 

My lord! My lord! 

What means this turbulence.'* 

They seek to slay me, who have done no ill! 

Who art thou.f* 

But a Roman citizen, 
Whom, through a grievous and unjust mistake. 
The soldiers deem one of the Gracchus' men. 

Which thou art not? 

I swear it! Oh, I swear! 
By all the gathered gods! I am for thee, and 

thine, 
And all against that sacrilegious rogue! 
Recall! I swayed the throng for thee this 

morning! 
Wherefore, I 've raced to gain thy sheltering 

roof. 



Act IV CAIUS GRACCHUS Page 135 

Fann.: 



Drus.: 

Fann.: 

Pont: 
Fann.: 



Pont: 
Fann.: 
Pont: 
Pleb.: [kneeling] 



So? Stand — 

[Plebeian rises, slowly] 

What ho — whom have we here? It is — 
Yea! So it is! The embassy! My lord — 

Aye, now I know him. 'T is the filthy swine 
Who spurned my proffered bribe. 

Refused thy bribe? 

He did. I held him out ten silver coins, 
And asked him but to cry me " Hail! " 



And he? 
Refused me. 

O, the godless man! 



Fann.: 
Pleb.: 

Fann.: 

Pleb.: 

Fann.: 



Sweet lord, — 
That was before that murderous wretch — that 

crime-sink 
Called Gracchus — had murdered so wickedly : 
Since when, I've shouted: '* Death to Grac- 
chus, friends! " 
And have urged on all good men to do like- 
wise! 

Hast altered in thy mind? 

Yea, that I have : 
For, when I pondered on that felon's vileness — 

Ah — so — didst ponder? 

That I did, my lord. 

And didst thy noddle agitate with thought? 



Page 136 CAIUS GRACCHUS Act IV 

Pleb.: 



Fann.: 



Pont: 

Pleb.: 

Fann.: 
Pleb.: 

Rut: 

Drus.: 
Opim.: 
PUb.: 

Opim.: 



Lord, — fully : as the dread event required. 

Then there 's thy fault! Plebeians should not 

think! 
Their business is to labor, and be thankful 
That we, who 're set far over them, indulge 
Their hunger of some kindness, now and then. 

[Signs to guards with hand, thumb 
turned upward] 

Go, fix this fellow so he '11 think no more. 
[Guards drag plebeian outward] 

Each god who sits on high, feels horror's 

shrink. 
At sight of these plebeian dogs who think! 

But I assert my loyalty, my lord, 

And *' Hail to Fannius! " shall cry right well! 

I trust thee. Go! Go make that noise in hell! 

Lord Consul! Law! Law! Justice! Give me law! 
I am a Roman! Give me Roman law! 

[Throws himself at Opimius' feet. En- 
ter RuTiLius] 

What show is here? 

A cockroach, fighting gods! 

What is thy prayer .^^ 

I am condemned untried! 
I am unheard! I call for jurors, trial! 
I am a Roman! 

Right! Shalt have them all! 



Act IV CAIUS GRACCHUS Page 137 

Fann.: 



Pleb.: 
Drus.: 

Opim.: 



Fann.: 
Opim.: 



Rut: 

Pleb.: 
Opim.: 
Pleb.: 
Opim.: 



My lord! 

O gods! 

What? 

I have said. The law 
Saith plainly there shall be a full account 
Of charge and answer, trial and verdict, and 
Of sentence, — execution, — all in turn. 
He shall have every form of this. He must! 
Ho! Scribe! 

[Scribe approaches, with tablets] 

Make note that a full history 
Be made, in ancient form, and in the ordered 

place. 
Of all proceedings, questions, answers, yea — 
Of learned pleas on this small scum's behalf. 
And — what hath been decreed. 

Which is.f^ 

His death. 
[to plebeian] 
Now — die content; the scrolls will show thy 

trial 
In ceremony, as the laws require. 

There 's grace! 

Have mercy, lords! Forgive! 

What crime.'* 

I know not. 

Lying cur! Go die! Go die! 

[Guards start to drag pleb. outward] 



Page 138 CAIUS GRACCHUS Act IV 

Pleb.: 

Men! Romans! Brothers! Do not do their 

will — 
These mighty lords — who, though on me 

today, 
Tomorrow will turn on yourselves with death ! 
O Gracchus, now I understand! These are 
The private emperors! Stay, Romans! Stay! 
They're emperors! They're private kings! 

Stay! Stay! 



Pont.: 
Drus.: 
Opim.: 



Fann.: 
Opim.: 

Rut.: 

Calp.: 

Rut.: 

Calp.: 



That noise! 

That rebel noise! 

Abate that noise! 

[Exit plebeian, dragged by guards. He 
continues to shout: " These are the 
emperors! They 're private kings! Stay! 
Brothers! Stay! They We private kings! 
Stay! Stay! Stay! " Muffled cry: " So, 
ho! " followed by a thud, is heard] 

Well sped ! I feared, a moment, wouldst relent. 

The hour sounds vengeance: mercy were ill 
spent. 

Why, Calpio, do commons wreak our will 
On their own kind, whenever we command? 

Because a zany 's born to be a dolt. 

Thy wisdom 's not profound. 

Nor is an ass. 
If these dull plebs had minds with which to 

think. 
Not wine, but sweat, would be patricians' 

drink. 



Act IV CAIUS GRACCHUS Page 139 

Rut: 

But there 's the merchant clan: they know, 

— they see — 
If they should rise to war — 



Calp.: 

Rut: 

Calp.: 

Rut: 

Calp,: 



Rut: 



That will not be. 

Thou say'st? 

I do. 

But why.f* 

Because they 're smug. 
They ache to be superior: they crave 
To glow a bit — e'en though with but a pale 
Reflection of what streams from those on high. 
The low make boots: patricians wear them; but 
The 'twixt-caste licks them. 



lo! That 's straight talk! 
[Enter Guard] 
Guard: [to Opimius] 
My lord— 



Opim.: 
Guard: 

Opim.: 
Guard: 
Opim.: 



Speak. 

Fulvius' young son returns 
As legate, saying he is here to beg thee 
For truce, and parley. 

What.^ Again.? 

Again. 

This passes credence! Impudence! Just that! 

I said "No!" once; yet — see — he dares re- 
turn; 

Give answer — stay ! We '11 send our answer 
back 



Page140 CAIUS GRACCHUS 



Act IV 



Guard: 

Opim.: 
Guard: 
Opim.: 



Sept. 



Opim.: 



By other lips. His own, that dared to bring 
This message to me twice, shall never move 

again. 
I'm understood.'^ 

Lord — 't is but a purple-togaed boy — 
A stripling. 

What! Wouldst dare? 

Lord, I obey. 

That 's well. 

[Exit Guard] 
Septimuleius : thou hast been 
A friend of Gracchus? 

[Septimuleius moves forward, bows] 

Friend .^^ No, — not a friend. 
He was distasteful to me, ever. I was 
A mere acquaintance — hardly that — just one 
Who nods in passing — one who barely knows — 

Quite so. Now take mine answer to his camp. 

The Senate, and Rome's rulers, do not hold 

Or parley, or debate, with rebels! 

What! Shall the sacredness of High Estate, 

Of all authority, and rightful power. 

Be smirched by intercourse with such low 

things, 
Such murderous thugs, thieves, robbers, rav- 

ishers. 
Pledged enemies of order and of state. 
As ye, foul gutter-spawn — the blood-marked 

foes of all. 
Both gods and men.'^ Our honor answers: No! 
We '11 none of you, except you 're on your 

knees, 
With manacles on hands, and yokes upon 

your necks! 



Act IV CAIUS GRACCHUS Page 141 

Fann.: 

That sounds magnificent! 
RuL: 

And more : — 't is true! 
Boyish Voice: [without] 

Ye dare not! I am sacred! I am here 
As herald! O, ye dare not! Murder! Oh! 

[Shriek] 



Sept.: 
Opim. 



Sept.: 
Opim.: 



Pont.: 

Fann.: 
Pont.: 



But if they do to me as thou hast done to 

theirs, 
And violate my envoy's aegis — what then? 

That can not be. 'T is only the exalted, 
And those of powerful station who 've the gift 

to work 
Their pleasing will, foregoing the things called 

laws. 
The common hold these sacred in their souls, — 
As is but right. Morahty must live! Go! 
Art safe! 

I hope so. 

I have told thee. Go! 
[Exit Septimuleius. Opimius turns to 

PONTIFEX] 

The toil of ruling strains the burdened back. 

Care weights the crown with lead. To-night, 

mayhap. 
The Paphian dame will grant me melting ease. 

How, now — and have the vestals been unkind.^ 

Those pale lank shadows? Gods! What taste- 
less joying! 

Their passions strive with fears; they yield to 
weep; 



Page 142 CAIUS GRACCHUS Act IV 

And make a nuptial night a fearsome thing 
Of half fulfilled desires. Now, lead me on 
To frank deUght. 
Rut: 

This is its temple! Come! 

[PoNTiFEx and Rutilius mix with 

revelers] 
Opim.: [to Lydia] 

'T is Lydia! Hail enchantress! 
Lyd.: 

Opim.: 
Drus.: 



Consul, thine! 

Would that the Fates endowed me with a fair. 
Who had thisLydia's charms, and grace, and air. 

[Drusus leaves couch, and joins Fan- 
Nius and Opimius] 

Shouldst have a servant who will tend thy 

wants. 
As hath our Fannius, in Calpio. 

Calp.: [aside] 

My name hath reached his tongue! 

[Edges over behind curtain, near Fan- 
nius, Opimius, and Drusus] 



Fann.: 
Drus.: 

Fann.: 
Drus.: 
Fann.: 
Drus.: 

Opim.: 



Aye — Calpio serves me well. 

Dost trust him — much? 

He is my faithful slave. 

He is a ghost. 

A ghost? 

Naught else, my friend: 
The ghost of Caius Gracchus' arm. 

I 'm dull. 



Act IV CAIUS GRACCHUS Page 143 

Drus.: 

He struck the blow that Gracchus' arm did 

not, 
But which haK Rome will swear he did. For 

me, — 
I hke not ghosts. 



Fann.: 

Opim.: 
Drus.: 

Fann.: 
Drus.: 

Fann.: 
Drus.: 

Opim.: 

Drus.: 



Thy words are freighted full 
With ominous portent. 

Speak thy meaning plain. 

There 's sometimes service that creates a debt 
Too great for man to owe. 

I can reward — 

Hast such reward, that, of its biting force, 
The slave's remembrance will be mined, and 

cleared, 
Of all its lode of dubious service done for thee.f^ 

Were he to dare to treason — 

'T is not well 
To wait for a polluted spot to waft 
Mephitic air abroad, ere 'tis removed. 

Thy mind incHnes to stilly tongues, and 

eyes 
That, having seen too much, see on no more.^^ 

Hast said. 



Fann.: [after slight pause] 

But I shall miss him, quite. He is 
A Sisyphus — that slave. His nimble wit — 
Drus.: 

May some day turn to plague thee. Have it 
done. 



Page 144 CAIUS GRACCHUS Act IV 

Fann.: 

So shall it be; but swift, and unannounced. 
His faith hath earned him that flip of thought- 
fulness. 
The fear of hurt to come gives greater pain 
Than does the stroke itself, laid on amain. 
Deem Calpio a corpse. 



Opim.: 

Fann.: 
Rut: 



Now, let 's to sport. 
There are some cheerful ladies here, I see? 
[Enter Rutilius] 

Rutilius shall tell thee of their kinds 
Of various perfections. 

I '11 tell, — and show ! 
This way, my lord : there are some sprightly ones. 
Whose frivohng turns greying flesh to rosy air. 
Ho! Slaves! Falernian jugs! 

[Opimius and Fannius walk oflF. Dru- 
sus joins Lydia, and they walk off. 
Calpio emerges from behind curtain. 
PoRTiNUS, blood-spattered, Gracchus' 
sword hanging at side, crawls in 
through window-casement in rear of 
embrasure; hides behind one of its 
forward columns. Rutilius motions to 
Calpio] 

[asidcy to Calpio] 

Guard well my little maid! 

Calp.: [aside, to Rutilius] 

I '11 squat upon my haunches, like a dog, sir, 
And bark away intruders. 

[Exit Rutilius. Laughter, cries of rev- 
elers] 



Calp.: 



So, I die, 
That these, my masters, may the easier lie? 
[Shrieks, clash of arms, outside] 



Act IV CAIUS GRACCHUS Page 145 

I die as he whose fate my point-thrust 

sealed; 
And in an hour, beyond the voiceless water, 
Make my account for slain Antyllius? 
What shrieked that Roman? " Do not do 

their will. 
These private emperors, these private kings! " 
He was a prophet, then, that squirming 

Roman pleb? 
So shall I die? — As does some silly sheep. 
That holds its neck out for the slaughtering 

blade? 
Now, by the gods, — a slave would die hke that; 
But I — I 'm slave no more. I '11 be a man. 
And die, mine arms in hand, as warriors die; 
Or, — if my senses serve, — then those at play. 

[Approaches Licinia. Portinus creeps 
around column, so as to be in Calpio's 
rear; crouches, and makes as if to 
spring on him] 

Fair madam — 



Lie: 

Calp.: 

Lie: 

Calp.: 



Lie. 



Hence, — foul slave! 

Be not so rash. 

'T was thou enticed me from my guarded home 
By thy deceitful, perjured tale of him — 
My Caius — saying that he bid me thence: 
And didst conduct me to this horror — thou — 

I served a master whom I 'd serve no more. 
Who lays a path, knows well its windings 

back. 
Belike, I '11 bring thee cure, who brought thee 

ill. 
Thy father hath some power? 

In his walls, 
Security awaits me. 



Page 146 CAIUS GRACCHUS Act IV 

Calp.: 



Lie: 

Calp.: 

Lie: 
Calp.: 



Lie: 
Calp.: 

Rut: 



And if I 
Should bring thee thither? 

Art in earnest? 

Aye, 
As I have never been in all my days. 

Shalt have asylum. 

Swear it by the god 
Thou hallo west supreme within thy soul; 
And that I '11 have the gold, and needful arti- 
fice, to flee. 
There is a far-off air I long to breathe — 
A sky I yearn to see ... . There is a distant 

strand 
That calls and draws me . . . Ah — my native 

land! .... 
Swear, lady : and I '11 aid thee — with wit, and 
heart, and hand! 

I swear it by mine husband's name! 

Enough! 
I serve thee on that score. 

[Cuts her bonds. Enter Rutilius, 
main setting] 

I '11 steal away, 
And take possession of my lovely maid; 
I '11 wrest from her the pleasure she hath gain- 
said. 
O ecstacy ! 

[Laughter and shouts of revelers. Ru- 
tilius enters embrasure, where Cal- 
pio is removing Licinia's bonds] 

Ha, slave! How now? What 's this? 



Act IV CAIUS GRACCHUS Page 147 

Lie: 

Dear Juno, save! 

[PoRTiNus springs, landing on Rutil- 
lus' back, arms clasped about his neck. 
After an instant of astonished pause, 
Calpio runs forward and draws sword, 
hanging in its scabbard, at Portinus' 
side] 



Calp.: 

Lie- 
Port.: 
Calp.: 
Port: 

Calp.: 

Port.: 
Calp.: 
Port.: 
Calp.: 



Lie, 



Strike in the throat! So silence wins with 
death ! 

[Stabs RuTiLius, who falls] 

Portinus! 

Helia — where — 

What— 

She 's here — 
In Fannius' house. The soldier gave his name. 
The daughter of Antylhus! Where.? Where.? 

In yon cubiculum, this carrion 

Had stored the maid against his pleasure's use. 

Unharmed? 

Unharmed. 

I '11 go- 
Await me here ! 
I '11 forge her passage with a jibe, whom thou 
Couldst not withdraw unhelped by half of 
Rome. 

[Exit Calpio, to side of embrasure] 

Good friend — 



Page148 CAIUS GRACCHUS Act IV 

Port.: [kneels, kisses her hand] 

Fair mistress .... 
Lie: 

News of him? 
Port.: [makes gesture of grief] 

Eheu! 
Lie: 

The world is dead .... That men should 
say that there are gods! 

[LiciNiA covers her face with mantle. 
PoKTiNus disengages sword, wipes it, 
presents it to Licinia] 

Port.: 

The master's, lady. 

Lie: [kisses sword, hands it back to Portinus] 

Wear it nobly, thou. 

[Portinus takes sword, kisses the blade. 
Enter Calpio at side of embrasure, 
with Helia; she starts to run to Por- 
tinus; halts; Licinia holds out her 
arms; Helia goes to her embrace] 

Lie: [points to Portinus] 

He 's worthy, faithful. 
PoH.: 

Heha! My love! 

[Embraces Helia] 

Calp.: [takes sword from Portinus] 

Good sickle! Prince of harvesters! 

Patricians die! 
They die as dead as commons; their evil use 

dies with them 

So must it ever be when laws are vain, 
And justice is the supple bawd of wealth: 
The slave will try those who oppress, at 

will. 



Act IV CAIUS GRACCHUS Page 149 

Call hunger for his witness, and with arm 
Made steadfast by its leanness, strike to win! 
[Exeunt Calpio, Licinia, Helia, Por- 

TINUS] 

Voice: [without] 

Halt ! Stand ! 

Calp.: [without] 

I 'm Calpio, who move to do 
Our lord's behest. 

Voice: [without] 

O — thou? — Pass on. But these.'* 
Calp.: [without] 

With me; time presses. 

Voice: [without] 

Pass. All 's well. 
Calp.: [without] 

Most well. 

[Enter Drusus, Lydia] 

Ho, King of Wine! We wait thee! 

He hath slunk away 
To joust with his unwilling virgin. 

So.? 
By Bacchus! Our becrowned demeans him ill 
To hie off to his pleasures, ere the folk 
Have had his bounty's overflowing Hquid fill. 

[Laughter, cries by revelers : " The King 
of Wine! Ho, ho, the King of Wine! "] 

I go to seek the amorous monarch, though 
I find him on his nuptial couch. 



Drus.: 

Lyd.: 

Drus.: 



Page 150 CAIUS GRACCHUS Act IV 

Lyd.: 

I trow, 
I '11 join thee in the pilgrimage, good sir. 

[Laughter, cries of revelers. Drusus 
and Lydia enter embrasure] 
Drus.: 

Pshaw, to what lowly state our King is sunk! 
[Touches body with foot] 

The nasty youngster 's very, very drunk. 

Lyd.: [bends over corpse, rises] 

His sleep is dreamless .... He will dream 
no more .... 



Drus.: 



Lyd.: 



Thine eye is sharp . . . Here 's death, and 

puzzling doubt. 
Thought, motion, power, station : — ^flown 

through a pin-prick; 
What's left — a horrible stranger! .... 
How.f^ When? By whose clenched hand.f^ .... 

The ordered round 
Of life in this great mansion checks its settled 

race; 
And, in an instant, takes new course. Here 's 

woe 
For Fannius. He loses. Elsewhere, someone 
May gain .... A moment more, and all the 

joy 
That now seethes blithely in yon room, will 

chill. 
And startled silence reign there in its stead. 
Thus, while we play, and plan, and chouse, 

and shout. 
Death breathes its chill, and puts us all to 

rout. 



His gore .... See how it creeps 
fear! ... I fear! .... 



Act IV CAIUS GRACCHUS Page 151 

Drus.: 

'Tis time t' alarm! Ho! Murder! Murder' 

Murder! 
Rutilius is slain! Murder! Murder! 

[Shouts by revelers: " Murder! Rutilius 
dam! " Followed by complete silence. 
Enter Fannius, followed by Opimius 
PoNTiFEx, Senators, etc.] 



Fann.: 



What— did— I— hear? 
Curtain 



Alec: 
Meg.: 



Alec: 
Meg.: 

Alec: 
Meg.: 



ACTV 

SCENE FIRST— Grove of the Furies* 

[Night. Outlines of Rome in back- 
ground. The action takes place in 
semi-obscurity. After the exit of Alec- 
TA and Megaera,** torch-lights gleam 
in the distance at various points, con- 
tinually showing closer. Sound of wail- 
ing wind] 



A-ee! The air grows rank! 

Hai! Some one comes 
Who wafts a strange, new taint, that moves 

me ill. 
He 's honest, and his body breathes out love. 
O noxious smell! 

It makes my claws to droop. 



There 's one with him who serves, who holds 

'ah! 
They seek a covert. 



no envy 
Within his breast. Pah! Pah! 



It is denied! Denied! 



* According to some authorities : Grove of Furina. 
** The Furies are conceived as follows : — 

ALECTA :^bent ; shriveled ; Medusa-haired ; voice is cracked, whining. She 
is constantly in motion. 

MEGAERA : — wan ; sparse black hair falling over her face ; voice shrill and 
mocking. 

TISIPHONE : — tall ; eyes fixed, and staring ; scarlet hair, streaming back ; 
voice sonorous and even-toned. 



Page 154 CAIUS GRACCHUS Act V 

Alec: 



Meg.: 



Alec: 



Meg.: 



Alec 



Meg. 



I '11 send a pregnant bitch, 
And two moist snakes, across their paths. My 
welcome ! 

And mine ! Two honest men ! Two battling foes ! 
By those great globules of Uranus *s blood 
That gave us birth : — I loathe an honest man! 

By leaf and twig, by branch and Hmb, and 

then. 
By trunk and root, make end of honest men, 
Of honest wills, of honest heads and eyes! 

Hai-hai, I hke the quarrelous pate. I love 
The silly, vapid eye, or that of lust; 
The muddy, flexless harlot's, or the small 
And knowing, crafty eye, or that which stares 
As does the fish's cold and baleful ball; 
The vulgar, ignorant, and insolent. 
Or the evasive, roving, furtive, or 
The empty eye, or that which carries in its 

depth 
Sharp, sidhng cunning, hot desire, or else 
The crouching form of Hatred, wound and 

coiled. 
And ready for the striking leap that brings 
Loud Clamor, sobbing Grief, Despair, and 

waiUng dirge. 

I fear the eye : it shows too readily 
The thought behind, to every learned gaze. 
It is a traitorous thing — that shining round: 
Some day, mayhap, these mortals will attain 
To knowledge of its story: men will look 
Into each others' eyes to seek therein 
For love, and kindliness, and pity, or 
The Light of Reason. A-ee — the evil hour! 

But so I 've taught their visions, that they balk 



ActV CAIUS GRACCHUS Page 155 

To read its tale, or, at the best, but see 
Within each ghstening orb what they would 

find there. 
So do they gloat on stalwart frames, or those 
Whose curved seductions challenge their de- 
sires, 
On rich habiliments, and pompous airs. 
And graces that but varnish villainy. 
They drink the beauty of a female's hair, 
Or babble of the straightness of a nose; 
They sense a whitened skin, an arching brow. 
Two pouting lips, a blush, or rounded breasts; 
But never look for what is in the eye. 
Or — looking — see not. I 've denied them sight! 
Hai! So is Misery, our hand-maid, fixed 
The sucking, sour habitant of every human 
home. 



Alec. 



Tis.: 

Alec: 

Meg.: 
Alec: 
Meg.: 



Observe! These two come closer! In this copse 

Set off to us, and our obscenities. 

The Gracchus and his servant sound their 

way; 
So let us end their strivings with this day! 

Their fate is sealed by greater hands than ours : 
Their paths are ordered by the highest Powers. 

But I must have to do with their black doom ! 
I crave it, crave it! 

Yea — and so do I! 

Let 's hence, and flap away to work, to work ! 

Hai! — Let's to labor! Let's to human joy! 
Here let us spur on greed, and there speed up 
The feet that tread on murder's errand. Some 
Shall I, with conjured hate, inspire to lust 
For sprawling limbs, and drooping jaws, and 
eyes 



Page156 CAIUS GRACCHUS Act V 

That gaze at nothing with a fixed surprise. 
Do thou, Alecta, wake each abject thought 
To envy, and its train of meanest wants; 
So, both, we '11 fan the fires of deadly ire, 
And make the Gracchus' final anguish be more 
dire. 



Alec: 



Tis.: 



Our sister 's mute. Speak, blood-avenger, 

speak! 
What sullen mood sits regnant on thy tongue.'^ 

I read the portent of a nearing death 

The price of which will waste mine arm of 

strokes. 
Woe, Rome, that banishest from out thy walls 
The loving heart, and graspest hate instead! 
Woe, Rome! Woe, city pledged to strife! I see 
Cadavers heaped as towers on thy ways, 
And lakes of blood, that of my wrath shall well 
To score requital for the piteous jet 
That soon makes crimson this most dismal 

wood !* 

A-ee — ^her cup brims full! She hath no need 
Of our starveling plots, to feed her bloody lust. 

They come. I droop. I faint. This plodding 

twain, 
Who crave no vice, rack all my frame with 

pain. 
Where there 's no wish. Denial sneers in vain! 

Elsewhere 's our prey. These freeze my limbs. 
Away! 

[Exeunt Alecta, Megaera] 



*The nullification, by the ruling class, of Gracchus' plan for universal Italian 
suffrage, finally resulted in the Social War. (B. C. 90-88). Over 200,000 Roman 
lives were lost on the battlefields, before the patricians yielded, and permitted all 
the allied Italian nations to have the franchise. In addition, this struggle cost 
Rome the lives of some 80,000, slaughtered by Mithridates. 



Alec: 
Meg.: 

Alec: 



ActV CAIUS GRACCHUS Page 157 

Tis.: 

Now brace thee, Libra, for the sudden load. 
Lest, of its shock, thy beam rive skies and 
worlds ! 

[TisiPHONE moves to rear. Enter 
Gracchus, limping, leaning on Phi- 

LOCRATES] 

Gracch.: 

I can no more; my flagging spirit meets 
The fagged flesh, and dully calls the halt. 
Here is the end. 



PhU.: 



Gracch. 



Phil: 
Gracch.: 



Nay, master, let me search 
For chariot, or bearers, or some keep. 
Where we may still elude the hostile hands. 

'T is vain. Didst note, in that last house- 
pocked street.'^ 

While Umping, I besought or horse, or aid: 

The populace stood by, and cheered, and 
laughed. 

And urged us on to speed, as if we were 

Contending in the games. " Stir faster, thou," 
they cried, 

"Lest thy pursuers win the race!" and 
shrilled 

Their pleasure at the show. So Roma's men 

Gave comfort to their Tribune, whom they 'd 
hailed 

Their chosen champion and love the day 
before. 

We flee no more. 

And do we yield? 

I yield; 
But not to the lust-maddened pack that bays 
On every side, and slavers with the bubbling 
juice 



Page158 CAIUS GRACCHUS Act V 



Phil: 
Gracch.: 



Phil: 



Bred by its taste of triumph. We '11 pass on 
Our broken mace to other hands. 

We bend 
Our steps to Rome and to its magistrates? 

Not I . . . . Not I . . . . Mankind vouch- 
safes nor law, 
Nor justice, to those rash who stake their 

hves 
To make the reign of justice true and firm. 
Nor ever, while the sovereignty of lawless 

gold 
Is placed in private hands, for use at private 

whim. 
Will justice be. Such is th' eternal law: 
Who have the means to buy, find those who '11 

sell. 
Nor chairs of state, nor mantles, change the 

flesh 
That craves for what coin brings, and causes 

man, 
The magistrate, or ruler, to make trade 
With what his oflSce hath to give, for what, 

in turn. 
Another hath with which to pay. 'T is thus 
The blushing cloak of Justice serves to shield 
The filthiest crimes of Money; so the fat- 
pursed 
Reap honor from their villainies. Ah — no — 
I shall not seek the curia, the lords. 
The judges, senators and other puffy trash, 
To be the sport of solemn-acting rogues 
Who ply the ghastly mummery of forms of 

law; 
I '11 face far graver judges, whom chnking 

arguments, 
And furtive nudgings, do not sway. 

Those judges — 



ActV CAIUS GRACCHUS Page 159 

Gracch.: 

Sit in the depths. 
PhU.: 

Lord,— not the Three? 
Gracch.: 

Yea — so. 
Phil: 

Ah, — lord — see: Rome will wake to sense 

at dawn, 
And seek thee tenderly, whom it hunts tonight. 
Gracch.: 

Rome? Rome? That name is sour within my 

mouth. 
The morning's penitence undoes no evil deed 
Wrought on the yesternight. 



Phil: 
Gracch.: 

Phil: 
Gracch.: 



The people are misled. 

'T is they themselves who most mislead them- 
selves, 
Who follow blatant words, but balk at thought. 

Then move, my lord, to raise the slaves to arms. 
And win by force? 



No, no; not that; not that! 
What 's gained by gore, is lost in that same 

flood. 
The argosy a bloody tide floats home. 
Contracts a canker that soon pits her skin. 
Which gapes a thousand mouths, that suck 

within 
The horrid liquor : — turned, at last, her turbid 

tomb. 
The Law! The Law alone can pave the road 
By which all men may come to better state; 
And Law must come by lawful ways in Rome, 
Where citizens may make what laws they will. 
PhU.: 

The soldiers come still nearer. 



Page 160 CAIUS GRACCHUS Act V 

Gracch.: 



Phil: 
Gracch.: 



Aye; their spears, 
That earn the Roman cash with Roman blood, 
Will reach us soon. Pomponius? Trapped, too? 

He stood with good Licinius, and fought, 
To gain thee way. And so they died. 

Loved friends ! 
I shall not lag . . . My ciphered tale is told. 
Yet, would I once again enfold in these 
Still sensuous arms my mother's form, and 

kiss 
Those sweet, firm lips, that taught me honor 

as a child; 
Ah — once again I would hold close my lady. 
And read love's ever- wondrous tale within her 

eyes. 
And him — my pratthng boy — ^gods — there is 

pain! 
Farewell, good mother — thou, Licinia — 
To thee a long farewell. Here is the end .... 
Philocrates — come — be my savior, thou. 
Help! Free me from my bondage with thy 

sword ! 

Dear master — ^I? Loved master — I? Nay! Nay! 

Thine arm is cunning: pet me with its skill. 
So shall we cheat Rome's masters of their 
sport. 

Voice: [in distance] 

Track! Track! 
Tis.: 

Woe to thee, Rome! 
Gracch.: 

What sound was that.^ 
Phil.: 

The hirehngs'? 



Phil: 
Gracch. 



ActV CAIUS GRACCHUS Page 161 

Gracch.: 

Nay, 't was one more near, — a voice 
Of sombre import, but of baffling pitch. 
Phil: 

I heard none other. 
Gracch.: 

None, mayhap, heard I. 
Voice: [nearer] 

Track! Track! 
Phil: 

The pikemen come! 
Gracch.: 

Strike swiftly, friend! 
Phil: 

Sweet master: will to live, and not to die! 
Gracch.: 

I died upon the Rostra, on this morn. 



Phil: 
Gracch.: 



Phil: 



Dear master: 'tis thy fancy: thou art whole; 
Speak not of death, who still art ruddy-hued. 

Wouldst edge from death? Mayhap it is the gate 
That leads to wider worlds, and worthier Ufe? 
Who knows? For certain, none. Yet something 

stirs 
In universal nature that proclaims 
A seethe of things about us, which our dull 
And puny talents fail to know, or even sense. 
Sounds wing we hear not; beauteous colors 

gleam 
That pass our stare unnoticed; and the feel 
Of something nameless tells me, all about 
Substantial motion fills the ambient space. 
Where sentient beings strive t' appointed 

ends. 

Dost speak of ghosts, my lord, who flit around, 
In aimless quest of mischief, in the void? 
'T is those I fear, — and dread to share their 
fate! 



Page 162 CAIUS GRACCHUS Act V 

Gracch.: 

There are no voids. Each point is planned 
and laid. 

Nor are there ghosts, that flutter, uncon- 
trolled, 

In wasteful wandering. Purpose fills all space, 

The sense of which mere mortals may not 
know; 

But I 'm so drawn to that most veiled of 
secrets, 

That near I 'm joyed to know my spirit's eyes 

Will soon feed freely on its shroudless mean- 
ing. 



Phil: 
Gracch.: 

Phil: 

Gracch.: 



So, art resolved — 

To reach that state this day. 
The narrow wicket of the grave 's the way. 

The grave's a cold, and dank, and cheerless bed; 

master, — ^face the hardships, for the sun! 

ShaU crumbled ashes flame with primal fire, 
Or wasted vessels spout their wine anew.'^ 

[Turns aside, and gazes upward] 

Eternal Power, whose compelling mind 
Rules all that is, and makes all things to be: 
Bear witness that I do not die to flee 
Untoward happenings, or cruel wrongs. 
Soughed but a whisper in me that said "Live !" 

1 'd hold my life — lead to what stifling depths 

its course; 
But, what 's my spirit yields to thy command 
To strive no more on earth; for which I die. 
The spark that yesterday blazed hot within. 
And urged to combat in the fated cause. 
Now glows no longer; what throbbed high, 

Hes flat. 
For which I loathe this carcass, feigning life, 



ActV CAIUS GRACCHUS Page 163 

Whose every movement marks a ghastly 

mock 
Of what was once an instrument divine. 

Voice: [sounding nearer] 
Track! Track! 
Phil: 

They come! They come! 
Tis.: 

Woe, Rome! Woe, Rome! 
Gracch,: 

What voice was that? 
Phil: 

Our hunters'. 
Gracch.: 

Nay, not so. 
The air bends back in shuddering retreat. 
And tortures in mine ears with eerie waves. 
That are not born of mortal throat. 



Phil: 
Gracch.: 



None speak 
But thou, and I. 



Dost say? Mayhap 't is so . . . 
Now strike! 
Phil: 

To spill thy gore — good master — nay! 
My sword would turn within the stroke to 
curse me! 
Gracch.: 

Though thine the arm, 't is Rome's behest 

that kills. 
Of thee 't is kindness: all the evil 's hers. 

Voice: [growing nearer] 
Track! Track! 
PhU.: 

They come! 
Tis.: 

Woe grasps thee, witless Rome! 



Page 164 CAIUS GRACCHUS Act V 

Gracch.: 

Again! 

[Turns toward Tisiphone] 

I see thee, glorious Thing of Dread! 
I see thee, Hving, who should see thee dead! 

[Turns to Philocrates] 
Philocrates! Thy sword! Strike! I command! 
Thy will! Mine arm! O gods! 



Phil: 



Tis. 



Gracch.: [covers his head with cloak] 

Strike! 
Phil: 

Strike? I 've struck! 

[Stabs Gracchus, who falls. Philoc- 
rates drops on his knees, head buried 
in hands. Low roll of thunder, murmur 
of many voices, indistinct groans, gross 
laughter, stifled shrieks, which die 
away as Tisiphone speaks] 

Doom 's struck ! Weep, Rome ! Drink, ever- 
thirsting sword! 

Halt, Chaos! Wither thy lascivious reach! 

On high, still Justice holds th' all-weighing 
scales. 

That sway to every paltry insect's drone. 

And cant for gods and bondmen with like 
speed. 

To her stern service flies my flaming will! 

Soon to that balance these, mine arms, will 
sweep 

An ocean of hot tears, vast stores of pain. 

High mountains of sleek corpses, gathered 
from 

Rome's darlings of soft ease, and from those 
low 



ActV CAIUS GRACCHUS Page 165 

Who 've served their bloody ends in this most 

foul event! 
Such the amends that shall make smooth 

th' account! 
Tisiphone hath spoken! Note it, gods! 
[Exit Tisiphone] 
Phil: 

Sweet Caius Gracchus, parable of worth. 
Thou norm of honor, greatest of the sons 
The gods have given Rome : — what low, rank 

tale 
Will rumor sow of thee in all the days to come? 
The lion dead, the meanest cur may bite; 
The giant gyved, a dwarf will dare to fight; 
Let Ughtning fell the towering oak, and then — 
'T is kindling wood for the most sleazy men. 
When greatness crashes, at the Fates' com- 
mands, 
A myriad lousy knaves clap eager hands. 
And spit the venom of their envy's hate. 
In base inventions, that their spites create, 
From out their vicious longings, to lay store 
Of fell abominations at its door: 
Each seeks some notice for his abject squeak 
By tagging what was great with his own 

reek : 
And finding listening ears, where Fame hath 

not, 
Impress on shining lives their poison's blot. 
So, filthy tongues, that reach from sewers' 

slime. 
Proclaim high minds as ministers of crime, 
And out of mouths unfit to breathe a name. 
Its memory 's consigned to lasting evil fame. 

Voice: [nearer] 

Track! Track! I see the track! 

Phil: 

Now am I master here, and, of my will, 
Can choose my course and order my next step 



Page 166 CAIUS GRACCHUS Act V 

As gives me pleasure. Caius Gracchus dead, 
And I — ^his soldier — hving! O ye mooning 

Fates, — 
What foolish play is here! See — on this 

blade- 
'T^is Caius Gracchus' blood that slowly flows ! 
Thou sacred ichor! Precious ruby drops! 
Mysterious fluid, that, a moment since. 
Coursed love, and pregnant thought ii\ yonder 

corpse: 
Come to my heart, and mingle with its stream! 
So may Philocrates hold Gracchus in himself. 
And may unite some atom of his worth 
With this, his humble servant, who, at once, 
Will grow blood-brother to this hero-god! 
I shared thy Ufe : — my chief, my master, 

friend — 

[Stabs himself] 

O sacred joy, — to share thine own life's end! 

[Dies. 

Silence] 

Sp. of Tiber.: 

Hast tarried long, my Caius. 

Sp. of Caius: 

I 'm in pain! 
Sp. of Tiber.: 

That quickly passes: now thine essence clears 

From what hath held its thrill. 



Sp. 
Sp. 


of Caius: 

of Tiber.: 

There — now- 


-art- 


I suffer, 
-free- 


still. 


Sp. 
Sp. 


of Caius: 
of Tiber.: 




Tiberius? 

'Tis 


;I. 



ActV CAIUS GRACCHUS Page 167 

Sp. of Caius: 

All 's strange, I 'm light. Sweet brother, am 
I dead? 

Sp. of Tiber.: 

Art dead to Rome, and to that futile swarm 
Of sodden things that peoples all its hills. 

Sp. of Caius: 

And now, there 's peace? 

Sp. of Tiber.: 

Aye, that; — the peace of toil, 
Which thou and I take up again as one; 
Toil everlasting, and its sweet reward 
Of other toil. Such is the Fates' decree. 
The universe is toil, and thou, and I, 
Are of its spirits bidden, in our time. 
Again, and yet again, now here, now there. 
To come, to labor and to die, and rise. 
And strive — and strive again. In prison cell 

and pyre. 
In stock and chain, on cross, and on the rack. 
Our mortal bodies still must coil and writhe. 
That of those horrors souls may part and grow 
To habitate those soulless things below. 
Who curse at reason, and raise up as great 
Those who deny mankind its proper state. 
For, so 't was ordered on th' initial day : 
Upon men's drooping heads. Hate foots its 

way; 
Love finds its thorny path where'er it may. 

Sp. of Caius: 

Ah! Radiant morn! — I see celestial light! 

Sp. of Tiber.: 

Away — away — away beyond the night! 

[Silence. Enter, slowly, soldiers, — some 
bearing torches] 



Page 168 CAIUS GRACCHUS Act V 

First Sold.: 

They 've cheated us; they 're dead. 

Second Sold.: 

We are too late. 
First Sold.: 

It was our evil fortune, and their fate. 

[Enter Septimuleius] 



Sept.: 



So, thou art loser, Gracchus, after all? 

I '11 take what profit offers from thy fall. 
Come, men, — his head! Our Senate chiefs 

await, 
To weigh its bulk, that once outweighed the 

Roman state. 

[Draws sword, and approaches body, 
which soldiers surround] 

Curtain 



Sept.: 

at: 



Calp.: 

at: 

Calp.: 

at: 

Calp.: 

at: 



Calp.: 



Scene Second — Day— Road to Rome 

[Enter Septimuleius, followed by citi- 
zen, bearing sack] 

Stay here, while I go forward to make sure 
My road, and of an escort. 

Aye, my lord. 
[Exit Septimuleius. Citizen puts down 
bag, sits. Mops his brow] 

Heigh-ho — the day comes warm. 
[Enter Calpio, disguised] 

Good Roman, hail! 

Fair day to thee. 

Hast aught to sell.f^ Some food? 
A cabbage — cheese — some lettuce heads, per- 
haps? 

I carry but one head. 

That is not much. 

Not much this morning, yet last night it was 
A most important head; and on this morn. 
Shorn from its native stalk, 't is said 't hath 

gained 
A high advance in worth. 

Am I a fool 
To have such stories told me? 



Page 170 CAIUS GRACCHUS Act V 

Cit: 

What thou art 
Is naught to me, good friend; yet do I say: 
Here 's value now, in gold, a dozen-fold. 
More than there was last night. 



Calp.: 

at: 

Calp.: 

at: 

Calp.: 

at: 



Calp.: 

at: 

Calp.: 

at: 



Calp.: 

at: 



What bearest thou? 

The head of Caius Gracchus. 

Gracchus? 

Aye. 

And how 's its value raised? 

Why, see thee here! 
The Consul hath offered all its weight in gold. 
Whereon its weight 's no more of bone and 

greys. 
But bone and lead instead. 

Thy master 's wise. 

He 's more. He 's shrewd. 

But of this Gracchus, — say — 
What manner man was he? Dost know? I 've 
heard — 

Not half what I could tell thee, warrant thee; 
For who should know, if not the man who 

bears 
His head for weighing? 

True ; and he, thou sayst — 

Was a most evil rogue: defied our state. 
Our sacred Senate, all our judges; and 
Indeed, the gods themselves! 



ActV CAIUS GRACCHUS Page 171 

Calp.: 



at.: 

Calp. 

at: 



Calp.: 

at: 

Calp.: 
Sept: 

at: 

Calp.: 



So I have heard — 

Say not hast heard, as something from afar: 
I tell it thee, who bear his head. 

That's sense. 
What did he seek for, truly? 

Who shall say 
What foul design was in his heart — or in his 

head? 
But this all men are sure on: that he was 
The enemy of Rome. Why, think on't, trav- 
eler : 
He sought to lead us honest men astray 
In evil ways, by vicious pleas for changes. 
He sought — ^he sought most wicked, horrible 

things : 
T' oppress the high, to raise the plebs to 
power — 

He was a danger — ^he — ; 'tis well he's dead. 

So men of substance say. Now — Rome's secure! 

Pray to the gods that state may long endure. 

[Enter Septimtjleius, with guards] 

Come, creature, walk! 

Aye, honorable lord. 

Speed on, my friend, in safety. 

[Exeunt Septimuleius and guards] 



Page 172 CAIUS GRACCHUS Act V 

Cit.: [walks off, with sack] 

Many thanks. 
Who serves the state, as I, in honored toil, 
Hath naught to fear on Roma's sacred soil. 
I bear a rebeFs head upon my back. 
But what my shoulders hold, none will 
attack. 



Calf.: 



So, Caius Gracchus' head, encased in rags. 
Returns to Rome, its god become its jest! 
Thou evil place! I spit on thee, proud Rome — 
Thou nest of rogues and fools ! The rogues on 

high. 
The fools, who for those rogues toil, fight and 

die : 
Whose souls are appetites, whose minds are 

lust. 
And for whose pleasures worlds are ground 

to dust! 

Curtain 



v^y 



